


Stop running, brother

by holdmenow



Series: Build a future [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Anxiety Attacks, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Depression, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Explicit Sexual Content, Gay Male Character, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Physical Abuse, Rape/Non-con Elements, Scared Daryl Dixon, Scars, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Shy Daryl Dixon, Teen Daryl Dixon, The Greene Farm, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-01 09:49:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18333560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holdmenow/pseuds/holdmenow
Summary: "Running ... in those moments, the only thing he could do to survive was run.It wasn’t the first time he had really done it, but this time he knew that if he didn't run until his legs could no longer support the weight of his body and stumble to the ground, he would not be alive.It was one of the things that his brother Merle had taught him before he went to prisión for selling cocaine almost five years ago. "Runnin’ and hunting with yer crossbow is the only thing that will keep yer ass alive, baby brotha," his brother said as he slapped him on the shoulder. And he was right"





	1. Run for your life

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story last year, before the actor who plays Hershel passed away. For what I consider this as a "tribute". He always seemed like a great character to me, a good father despite his mistakes and very wise, and I would have loved to see more interactions between him and Daryl, so this is for him and all his fans.  
> This work ontains explicit descriptions of physical violence and sexual abuse to minors, as well as suicidal thoughts and selfharm. If any of these things are something that can trigger you in some way, please do not read it. In the same way, each chapter will be marked where those scenes are.  
> Once again, thank you for reading.   
> Please take care, I love you guys.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting somewhere better, for now

Running ... in those moments, the only thing he could do to survive was run.

 

It wasn’t the first time he had really done it, but this time he knew that if he didnt run until his legs could no longer support the weight of his body and stumble to the ground, he would not be alive.

It was one of the things that his brother Merle had taught him before he went to prisión for selling cocaine almost five years ago. "Runnin’ and hunting with yer crossbow is the only thing that will keep yer ass alive, baby brotha," his brother said as he slapped him on the shoulder. And he was right

 

He ran as fast as he could to get away from that house, from the bastard of rather they had. He had Merle's backpack, the one with his wings applied; inside he had a change of clothes, food and his crossbow, which hit his aching back with every step and jump he took. The scars caused by his father's belt barely had hours of being inflicted. And as he ran, he felt like little by little how those wounds were opening again, every effort to keep them clean thrown away. He felt how his sleeveless shirt was stained with blood. But he couldn’t stop, not knowing that his father, if he saw him again, would kill him with a shot in the head.

  
  


***********

You see, a few days before, Will Dixon had found Daryl with a boy in his room. Yes, a boy. "What the fuckin’ell is going on here?" He shouted as he saw them both on the bed. His body exuded a disgusting smell of whiskey. "Damn faggot," he told his son así he went to gran him.

 

Daryl, surprised and at the same time cursing himself for not having heard him enter the house, quickly jumped out of bed, taking Thomas's arm with him. He opened the window of his room, which he shared with his brother and pushed the boy out. The moment he went to move towards the door, his father, still nimble despite the alcohol in his body, took him by the neck and slammed him hard against the wall, causing his head to almost crack and spin and Daryl fell to the ground, his sight blurred and with a buzzing in his ears. The blow was so strong that he felt as his whole body fell asleep.

 

Will held him by the from of his shirt and started landing hits in the face. One punch, another and another. He threw his son to the ground and when he saw that the boy wanted to crawl slowly towards the exit, he kicked Daryl in the ribs several times. Daryl let out a groan - a simple moan, because he knew that if he shouted everything would be worse - when he felt the impact, noticing how now it was a little harder to breathe. Maybe because of the blow, maybe he was hyperventilating from fear. Of all the times his father had hit him, he could say that this was the worst.

 

After his brother went to jail for several years, he had no one to save him from the asshole's fist and every time his father got mad at something, for the slightest thing, Daryl paid the price. But this was worse, this time Daryl was really to blame for his father's anger. And he was supposed to pay the consequences, or at least that's what the old man always said.

 

Will went to close the door of the room, but not before stepping over his son's back. Daryl closed his eyes and shuddered when the door slammed shut. He tried to breathe, although it seemed that the air was thick. Suddenly, the sound of a belt being unfastened and slipped from Will's pants caused him to be paralyzed completely. He felt how his father's hands were tearing the shirt he was wearing, exposing his back.

 

"Ya made a big mistake, boy"

 

And suddenly ... all there's was left was pain. Again and again, that throbbing and heartbreaking pain. 

He lost count of how long his father hit him with his belt. All he knew was that the man was now leaving the room, staggering from exhaustion. Daryl stayed on the ground, unable to move.

 

He lost consciousness smelling blood, sweat and alcohol.

  
  


**********

The clock read three in the morning. It had been about seven hours. Seven hours in which he could have bled to death and his father wouldn't have approached to him to see if he was still breathing.

 

With much effort, he stood up and decided to tend to his wounds. He couldn’t go to a hospital, first because he didn’t have money and second because if someone found out how his father treated him they would take him out of that house and who knows, maybe they would put him somewhere worse. Although ... who could adopt a useless 16 years old piece of shit redneck? He laughed at himself. Moving slowly, he went to the bathroom. He crossed the living room in complete silence, watching as his father slept in the armchair with the television on.

 

When he reached the bathroom door, he took a few minutes to try to get air into his lungs, panting from the effort. He took the handle of the door and pulled slowly, without making a sound and when closing the door, he collapsed, falling on his knees to the floor, avoiding hitting his face against the floor again thanks to his hands. He felt his eyes begin to burn, with the danger that tears would fall. Grabbing the sink, he got up and looked at himself in the mirror. His left eye was swollen, with a cut in his eyebrow which was still dripping blood. His right cheekbone already showed a bruise and the blow behind his head is somewhat inflamed, with dried blood in his hair. He raised his hands to open the door of the cabinet, whose mirror was broken months ago by another beating, and took some bandages, alcohol and sat on the toilet.

 

He began to clean his back with a damp towel, forcing his hands to stop shaking. Daryl inhaled with pain each time he passed the fabric through a section of the wound, but he couldn’t stop. It cleaned and drained in water the thick, red liquid that he saw on the towel. From time to time he took a few seconds to breathe a little, pushing the pain away. He sighed and ducked his head, while his eyes got wet quickly. This time, his back would be scarred, he knew it.  His body began to tremble with his crying, sobbing louder and louder. And he knew he couldn’t waste time. He knew that if he didn’t calm down and begin to move, he would lose the only chance to leave. Where? He had no idea, he just knew that he needed to get out of there as soon as possible. Inhaling and exhaling a few times, he managed to stop crying and got up from the seat. Helping himself with the mirror, he disinfected the wounds with the alcohol and put on bandages, securing them with tape.

 

He left the bathroom and went to his room. [i] It's now or never[/i], he told himself. Slowly, he reached down and grabbed his brother's backpack, which had angel wings applied to the front. He had always liked that backpack, but Merle used it all the time and never had a chance to use it. Leaving aside the memory of his brother, he opened the backpack and began to put a change of clothes, some cookies and some more bandages. He put on a sleeveless shirt, grabbed his crossbow and walked out the window slowly. Suddenly he heard a noise, and wanting to hurry, his pants got hooked on a screw from the window, making him fall to the ground, on the mud accumulated outside.

 

He got up, shaking his clothes off the ground and then felt something very cold and hard on the back of his head. He swallowed and listened to his father's malevolent voice. "You'd better git outta of here, before I blow yer brains out. There were not and there will not be damned queers in this family. " Daryl turned his head a little and looked at him askance. The man pulled out the gun's safety and Daryl felt as if cold water were pouring down his body.

 

And without warning he began to run.

  
  
  


**********

He had no idea how long he had run or even how far he’d got

 

He braked and leaned against a tree to catch his breath, sat on the cold floor of the forest and inhaled, aching. Trembling from the cold and adrenaline, he lifted his shirt and looked at the area where his father had kicked him. The colors purple, red and green covered the area, it felt hot and it beat a little. Definitely some rib was broken or at least injured.

 

He looked up from his wound and looked around, realizing he didn’t know where he was. At that moment he noticed that he was a little dizzy, his head maintained a constant and intense pain. He knew he had lost a lot of blood already, but what could he do? He wasn’t going back where he came from and he couldn’t stay in the forest either. All he could do was keep moving, until he found a path that would lead him somewhere. He wasn’t going to let himself die, just like that. He ate a couple of cookies and got up again with much effort. He needed to drink water, he was thirsty and there was no river nearby. "Damn it," he said through clenched teeth. He settled his backpack on the front and continued on his way.

 

By the time he could see the light colors of dawn, he came across a road. But he had no more strength, couldn’t take five steps without stumbling and his vision was almost completely cloudy. He fell for the second time to the floor in fours, trying to get air into his lungs, but this time he couldn’t. The pain was stronger than he had thought and he simply collapsed on the ground.

 

He heard the sound of a car approaching and looked where the sound came from. It stopped and someone got off, but he could only see black.

  
  
  


**********

His awakening was slow. He could feel control of his body, but he did not open his eyes. Beneath him there was something soft, comfortable, and warm. Was he dreaming? Or was he dead? Either option was very viable.

 

Something pressed his body gently against that soft structure, and he heard sounds coming from far away. They were voices, someone was talking about a boy who apparently they didn’t know the name.

 

He opened his eyes and closed them quickly, there was a lot of light in the place. Slowly he half-opened them and looked around. He was lying on a bed, in a large, bright room. The windows showed beautiful pink, blue and white colors in the sky, the now dim sunlight framing a leafy tree. It really was a beautiful photograph. On the bedside table to his left was a glass of water, and he remembered how thirsty he was, so he drank it in just seconds. He noticed that he didn’t feel much pain and in that moment he remembered what had happened. The person who picked him up must have taken him home. He looked at his body and felt his hands and arms clean. He was wearing a gray jogging suit and a white shirt, which showed the bandages covering the wounds on his abdomen and probably on his back. When he touched his head, he noticed that a bandage surrounded it and some elastic bands covered her left eyebrow.

 

Someone knocked on the door.

 

His heart began to beat quickly and he got out of bed, falling to the floor of how weak he felt and realizing that he had nowhere to go. He thought about hiding underneath the bed but he only had time to stick to the wall, complaining a bit about the pain, making himself as small as possible. A woman entered the room with a tray of food, with milk and a sandwich, which she left on the bedside table.

 

"Hi darling, how do you feel?" She asked, staring at him as she placed her hands in front of her. 

 

His eyes were beautiful, more beautiful than those of his mother had been. You could see that woman's soul through them. You saw love, compassion, security. She was white-skinned, thin, with black hair tied in a bun and a flowered blue dress.

 

The woman looked at him waiting for an answer. "I'm fine," he said, his voice trembling.

 

"Well, I'm glad about that. Don’t worry honey, you're in my home. My name is Annette, my husband Hershel was the one who picked you up on the road and brought you here. How is your back?

 

And this time Daryl remained silent, staring at the woman

 

"Could I... can you let me see it?" Daryl nodded slightly and waited for the woman to come closer and she sat down to his side. He felt his body tremble like a damn tree leaf with the wind. [i]Clam down, idiot[/i], he said to himself. "Don’t worry, I just want to know if everything's okay. Turn around" indicated the woman and he obeyed, mostly for fear of knowing what would happen if he didn’t do what she asked. He shuddered as she felt Annette's hands brush against his hip as she took the shirt. "Relax, I'm just going to lift it up a bit." The woman inspected his back for a few minutes and lowered his shirt. "Very well. The bandages are clean, that means you're not bleeding anymore. I had to sew your wounds. You will be fine, they will heal, but they will leave scars quite ugly. I'm very sorry for that. "

 

He nodded without looking at her. The woman got up from the floor, leaving him alone and with a strange feeling. He realized that he didn’t want to be alone on the floor and crossed his arms, stooping a little and letting out a small moan of pain for squeezing his ribs. Annette went to the closet in the room and opened it, letting him see what was inside. "Here you will find clothes for you, and some sheets if you want to change them. There are also towels, in case you want to shower," she informed him with a smile on his face. Guilt hit him in the chest for thinking she would hurt him. After all, he was just a random kid they picked up from the street, who knows what they would do with him. But Annette had brought him food and was giving him clothes ... what the hell was going on?

 

"I know you must be scared, especially after seeing what conditions you are in. We are not going to force you to talk about what has happened to you or force you to do anything you don’t want or that makes you feel uncomfortable. You're safe here, okay?" she said softly, as if speaking to a five-year-old. Daryl just nodded again. "Well, my husband will come to talk to you in a moment, okay? And eat a little, it will not hurt at all. "

 

The woman left the room smiling, leaving him alone. Daryl got up from the floor and went to the bed. He took the sandwich and began to eat, alternating with a few sips of milk. At the end of the meal, he went to the window, and it seemed that time passed very quickly because at night almost closed, and looked out. He saw a giant park, probably very green, but the darkness of the night only let them see blue. He was on a farm, apparently. It was beautiful as the moon illuminated the landscape.


	2. Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl meets the rest of the family

He inhaled and exhaled, feeling some pain in his back and chest, but nothing he could not tolerate. Again, someone knocked on the door. He turned and saw a man enter the room. He must be Annette's husband, Hershel.

 

"Hi son. How do you feel? "The man asked, making Daryl shudder to hear the word [i]son[/i]. Hershel was standing by the door, which he had closed. It was as if he was waiting for Daryl to let him enter the room more.

 

"Good," he said timidly.

 

"What is your name?"

 

"Why’chu wanna know that?" And the guy smiled.

 

"I just want to know who I'm trying to help"

 

Daryl looked at him suspiciously. "Daryl Dixon"

 

"Well Daryl Dixon, my name is Hershel Greene. You already met my wife Annette "the boy nodded. "She told me your wounds are healing, that's good, don’t you think?" Daryl stared at him, alternating his gaze to the door. Hershel moved and Daryl moved as well, standing behind a small table. The man raised his hands, trying to stop any reaction the boy might have and said "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. Someone else did it and I won’t let it happen again. Alright? Son, why don’t we sit down and talk for a moment? "

 

"I'm not yer damned son," said Daryl quickly, and as he looked at the man's change of expression he realized his mistake. Goddamn! "Sorry," he said, ducking his head, shrugging one shoulder as if expecting a punch. He had ruined everything in ... what, twenty-five minutes?

 

"Don’t worry; It's true, you're not my son. However, you are young enough to be. But I'm not going to call you that way if you don’t want to. I'm sorry if I made you feel ... uncomfortable. Come, sit down." Daryl walked over to the table and sat down slowly, staring at Hershel; his back rigid against the back of the chair. He felt again as he trembled from head to toe, he was tense, and that made his whole body ache. But he prepared to listen to the man.

 

"Well, I do not know if my wife informed you, but I found you on the side of the road. Your things are in the room, in that closet" he said pointing to the closet behind him. "You can take them whenever you want. Nobody will take them from you. Now ... I must know ... are you in danger? Is someone following you? "

 

He remembered what happened to his father and his eyes widened. He felt panic begin to drown him. He looked at Hershel and said "I dunno. I ... I just ... I had to leave, man... I ..." he began to despair. What if they brought him back with Will Dixon? He would kill him once and for all.

 

"Please…"

 

"Hey, hey," Hershel tried to calm him down and, wanting to take him by the arm to assure him that everything would be fine, the boy shuddered so fast that he almost fell off the chair. He could see the agitated breathing trying to get out of the boy’s chest and decided to keep talking instead of touching him.

 

"Listen, what I saw ... I just wanted to make sure I got the right conclusions" the man exhaled and looked at Daryl fixedly. "Alright. This is the deal. You can stay here as long as you want and I assure you that you’ll have everything you need, especially a roof and food," he said, his eyes still fixed on Daryl's. It was a way of assuring him that he was telling the truth.

 

"But if you go out that door, it will fall under my responsibility and conscience if someone finds you dead. I don’t know where you're going, if you have a place to go. I don’t know if, whoever is scaring or threatening you, can find you or not. The truth is ... I don’t want that, I really not "

 

Daryl lowered his gaze. He didn’t know what to say about it, except that the man in front of him was right. He knew perfectly well that if he left, wherever he was, it would not be long before someone else found him, and besides ... where would he stay? In a damn cabin? He would need a job and knowing the conditions in which he would live, he couldn’t give enough data. And even less if he planned to go back to school.

 

"Listen, my wife and I will protect you, just like we do with our daughters. But there are rules in this house, which you must fulfill if you stay. Okay?" Daryl nodded, understanding the options given to him. "You don’t have to make a decision now. We'll talk about it in the morning, after breakfast. I'll let you know the rules and you'll tell me a bit about your story. I can see that you are a good kid, but also that you are very scared. So I promise you now, and if I lie to you, I'll be struck by lightning: nobody is going to hurt you here. It's okay? I will let you rest. Breakfast is at 7am. I hope to see you there".

 

Hershel got up from the chair and left the room leaving Daryl alone.

 

Daryl sat on the bed, wrapped his arms around his legs and looked at the window thoughtfully. Maybe…

 

Maybe it would be all right.

  
  
  


**********

 

He would have wanted to say that he had slept well, but the nightmares that invaded his rest made his night a little hell. Images of his mother when his house burned, his father screaming, spitting alcohol, Merle going to jail ... a bunch of bad moments in just ... What, seven hours of sleep? That added to the pain he felt all over his body, on his back. He looked at the clock that was on the bedside table. 6.45 am. Should ... should he go down for breakfast? After all, they didn’t seem to be bad people.

 

Deciding yes, he got out of bed and went to the closet. He he put on a black cotton jacket with a hood and left the room on tiptoe. By habit, probably. He looked at his right side and the long U-shaped corridor contained several doors, his room being the last of them on the left wing. He approached the stairs and heard noises coming from the kitchen, on the ground floor.

 

"Who are you?" Said a voice that made him jump. As he looked where the voice came from, he saw a girl staring at him with blue eyes still asleep. She was wearing a pink shirt and violet pants with flowers. Her slippers were pink as well and her golden hair was pulled back into two long braids. The girl was staring at him. "What happened to your head?"

 

"I ... fell" a little lie would not hurt the little one.

 

"Did it hurt a lot? If you need help, my mom always knows how to heal me and Maggie "

 

"Yea ..." the girl approached and he stepped back Come on, idiot, are you afraid of a girl?. She held out her hand. "My name is Bethy Greene and I am eleven years old. What is your name?"

 

He stared at her for a few seconds and then took her hand. "Daryl," he said, his voice soft.

 

"Are you going to have breakfast with us? Do you want me to guide you to the kitchen?" She said a bit enthusiastically. And before he could respond another voice distracted them.

 

"Stop, Beth, leave him alone. You're going to scare him "

 

"I'm not going to scare him" Beth said, looking annoyed

 

The other girl, clearly older than Beth, came over and held out her hand. Daryl took it. "Maggie, nice to meet you Daryl." The girl had blue pants and a red shirt, darker hair than Beth and much shorter. But she appeared to be just as good as her sister. "Hey, Mom made pancakes for breakfast, let's go down," she told them and pushed her way between them.

 

Seeing these girls ... a lump formed in his throat. Pink pajamas, pancakes, family breakfast? Was that supposed to be a happy family? Everything was so strange and new to him that his head began to doubt his decision to go down. But he felt Beth take his hand and pull him to follow her and he couldn’t say no. They went down in silence and at the foot of the stairs, Bethy and Maggie went to the kitchen and left him alone.

Looking around he realized that the place was huge. He felt as if he didn’t belong there, he felt small, insignificant. A current of air came to his back and he shuddered; hugging his torso began to walk around the place. The first thing he saw was how a large table almost perfectly divided the place. On one side the kitchen that showed the girls sitting at the table and Annette finishing making coffee. On the other side was the living room.

 

There were couches that noticeable from afar, they looked comfortable. And in front a fireplace. On it he could see photos of the family and some horses. From there, he went to touch the chairs, smelling the flowers that were in the house. Next, he went to the window and could see a large green park with many trees. A barn could be seen in the distance, on one side of the landscape and on the other the road with which he had met the other morning.

 

"Good morning, Daryl," said a male voice. Hershel. Daryl spun around and saw him leaning against the chimney. "Come, let's go to the kitchen" he said nodding towards the other room.

 

Once at the door, the girls and Annette looked at him and smiled. But there was another guy in the room, who looked at him with different eyes ... eyes that were neither those of the woman nor of Hershel, much less of the daughters. Feeling uncomfortable, Daryl looked down at the floor.

 

"Good morning everyone, he’s Daryl and he will enjoy a delicious breakfast with us today. Daryl, you know my wife and these two follies. He is Gareth, one of the men who works with me on the farm. Okay, no crazy questions or tantrums"said Hershel looking at Maggie first and then at Beth. "Come, sit down," he said and showed him a chair near him and Gareth.

 

Gareth stared at him, grinning mischievously. There was something about that guy that he didn’t like.

 

Still, he had the luxury of eating like a damned wretch with a lot of hunger, you could say he ate until his stomach hurt. He enjoyed every second of that breakfast, the girls' laughter, Annette's motherly voice, the talk between Hershel and Gareth. They seemed like a real, happy family, dedicated to each member.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Once that image was finished, Hershel asked Daryl to follow him to his studio. The boy sat down in front of the large wooden desk and waited for the man to come closer. He sat down and stared at him.

 

"Well, Daryl. I must say that I was very happy to see you at breakfast. Did you eat well?"

 

"Yeah, thank you," he said, nodding shyly.

 

"Excellent. Now, tell me a bit about your story. How did you end up with those wounds?" Daryl felt as if a bucket of ice water were falling on his head. He looked down and noticed that his hands began to tremble slightly. "You don’t have to give me details, kid, I just want to know what's happening." The boy inhaled and exhaled. "Tell me about your family"

 

"We are ... oh, jezz. We are redneck. We was four, my ma, my pa, and Merle, my brother. Pa had an accident, lost his job and started drinking. My ma... she died a while ago. I guess she couldn’t stand the idjit anymore and she also started drinking drank. She died in a fire …

 

After that, we was just pa and Merle. Pa ... he was never sober and he always took it out on us, but after Ma's death ... Well, things just went to shitl ... Merle stopped going home at night and then ... "He put his finger to his mouth and he started to bite the skin of his thumb. "My brother is in prison now, so I became ... my pa’s damn boxing bag"

 

What would happen if Hershel found out that his father had run him out of the house because he was gay? What if Hershel did the same and wouldn’t let him stay in the house?

 

"Why did he kick you out of the house? What happened?" But Daryl didn’t answer. He simply looked down at the floor and shook his head. "Okay, you don’t need to tell me. Listen, nobody here is going to judge you for anything or to mistreat you. Alright? I'm going to repeat it to you as many times you need it." Daryl nodded shyly. "OK. How old are you, Daryl? "

 

"16"

 

"Well, I'll explain how things work here. It’s not a prison, but we have rules. As you can see, we get up early and work on the farm. I'm a veterinarian, so I work a lot with animals, especially horses. Garethgives me a hand so for now it's enough. My wife is a retired nurse, so she stays in the house and sometimes goes to help the nearest hospital. Maggie and Bethy, they are thirteen and eleven years old, go to school in the morning and help here in the afternoon, after doing their homework. Tell me, did you go to school? "

 

"Yeah, but ... didn’t finished. I had ... I had to leave ... I didn’t ..." On top of being a damn stupid idiot and good for nothing, according to his father, he couldn’t lie anymore in school about where so many bruises and T-shirts stained with blood came from. In addition to all the bullying that they did to him. For being a dirty redneck.

 

"Calm down, there's nothing wrong with that. It's not your fault, Daryl. We'll talk about that. For now the most important thing I want you to know is that each one does his work and that we respect each other. Both adults and children. There are schedules, tasks and responsibilities to fulfill. And if you decide to stay, you must follow them. If anyone wants a privilege, they must work hard to get it. For now you are going to do small things, probably help Annette in things of the house since you have to heal first. We'll talk more about what we can do with school. Since you must finish it. "

 

Daryl nodded to everything Hershel told him.

 

"Do you have any questions you want to ask me?" And Daryl was left wondering about the possible scenarios in which he could end up like shit.

 

"What if ... my pa... you know ... finds me?"

 

"In other circumstances I would tell you to go back with him, but clearly you are better off. As soon as I can solve that, I'll let you know, okay? You're a good kidDaryl, I can see that, although a little irritable and distrustful. It's ok, I don’t blame you. But that attitude must end. Anyway, I know that you respect my wife and my daughters, for how you treated them today. I trust you. Oh, and please. Take care of your language, at least in front of the girls. You can go to see the rest of the place, I'll be here if you need anything "

 

He greeted Hershel and when he left the office, he saw Maggie, who carried a box of clothes. "Hey, Daryl," she called. "Follow me." They climbed the stairs and entered the room in which Daryl had slept. Maggie put the box on the bed. "You know, my father would never let anyone else use this room, but I guess he saw something in you. And I trust my father's judgment, even though he's made mistakes in the past" Maggie said, and Daryl looked down at the floor, wondering if letting him stay at home was no mistake.

 

"Why?" He asked.

 

"You'll find out later, for sure. So, this will officially be your room from now on" she said, showing him the room with open hands. "I understand that you don’t come from a nice place. I hope you find some peace here on the farm. Hey, can I ... can I give you a hug? "

 

Daryl stared into her eyes and a few seconds later he nodded. Nobody had ever asked permission to approach him or touch him. Every physical contact he had experienced in his life had caused him pain. Hands that simply caused him pain no matter what happened to him, with his body, his head ... The fact that the girl asked him that took him a little by surprise. He waited for the girl to take a few steps and felt a strange heat when she put her arms around his torso. Shyly, he hugged her too.

 

"Welcome to the farm, Daryl," she whispered in his ear.


	3. Gareth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> vaguely described abuse scene!!  
> It starts at "Not many days passed before..."  
> and ends at "He knew he was going to get sick."
> 
> Take care (L)

The first weeks were very difficult. Not only to adapt to the place, but to the rules and to  _ them _ .

 

They were a wonderful family. So full of love, talent, patience. A selfless need to do good, to show that love can cure everything. Annette and her ability to make the best crafts with any material and its quality in the kitchen. Hershel and his creativity for games and the ingenuity of how to solve any problem. Maggie and her talent to draw any object, landscape, person or animal, especially her beloved horses. Bethy and her beautiful voice, which she accompanied with the piano from an early age.

 

Damn, a family so beautiful that in a short time he learned to love. In such a short time he became one of them. And that made him angry. He got angry because he felt he was leaving his other self behind, the self that always suffered. He was afraid that things would be too good, that it would not work, that they would get tire of him and get him out of there. At the same time, his anger was because ... How the hell is that he missed all this? Why? He missed family dinners, birthdays, school events, leisure afternoons with his "sisters". He lost the experience of paternal and maternal love. Daryl knew that he was healing not only physical injuries, but emotional wounds and that scared him, a lot. 

 

But they say that if you don’t risk anything, you won’t know what else there will be.

 

It had been two months already and Daryl was almost one hundred percent healed. Thanks to Annette's care, his body was healing well and with the food he received daily, he was able to gain a little weight. The more strength he recovered, the more things he did during the day.He walked to collect wood for the fireplace (although it was not necessary, but Hershel knew he needed to go out for a walk in the woods), or helping Hershel in the barn. Although, his main task was to help Annette with some simple duties of the house, such as cleaning floors, helping in the kitchen, watering some plants, distributing clean clothes to each room. Every day he wanted to do  more to spend time with them and felt more confident in himself and his abilities. They encouraged him to try new things every day.

 

One afternoon he found himself reading some material from Maggie's school and he loved it. The girls were doing their homework, and Daryl started reading some things to help them. He discovered that he was very good at maths and physics, especially the mechanical part of things. He remembered a few stuffs he had studied at school.

 

He knew he was a good student, always interested in what he was taught, but the things in his house were not ... suitable for "nerds". His brother and his father always mocked him for being the good guy, the smart guy.  _ Tha books are only t’make fire for a barbecue _ , his father used to tell him. He knew he should turn that voice down and out of his head as fast as he could. Here, he had his own voice. And that's how he was opening up more to the possibility of communicating things, of laughing, simply of living ...

 

Maggie was doing social science work, while Bethy was doing homework in English. He helped the minor while the other read the questions aloud to see if they had any meaning, which, according to her, they did not have. Maggie was already a teenager, 13 years old, she was in the “age of questioning everything”.

 

"You know, I don’t get it. How can this people expect me to remember what the hell happened in the First World War? "

 

"Margaret!" Her mother shouted from the kitchen.

 

"I’M SORRY," she answered him from where she was. The dining room was warm, lit with the sun coming through the windows.

 

"Why don’t ya start by naming the qualities of the places and people’s need? The political crap is boring, but..." Daryl said, shrugging, and continued to look at Bethy and her notes. He whispered to the girl that she made some modifications and then looked at Maggie again. "What?"

 

"How do you know that?"

 

"Well, it's easier if ya put’n context how and why it all started"

 

"You like History, don’t you?" Maggie asked, a slightly mocking expression on her face, but Daryl's walls had already begun to fall and those comments no longer offended or bothered him.

 

"If ya cut out your damn bitching and read them ass books, it would be easier for ya”

 

"DARYL" shouted again Annette. Daryl chuckled softly and Maggie showed her tongue, then laughing as well. Fighting with Maggie was much more fun than fighting with Merle.

 

"Daryl, why don’t you go to school?" Bethy asked. "You're very smart" the smile on the girl's face went from ear to ear

 

"Well, sweety, Daryl will be able to return to school soon, if that's what he wants" Apparently, Hershel was in the living room listening to the boys' conversation. Bethy got up from the table and went to hug her father. Maggie smiled at him from the table affectionately and Daryl was speechless. Hershel had some papers in his hand.

 

"What? He asked, his voice trembling.

 

"I talked to the school principal. I told them a little about your situation ... And they are willing to take an exam to see what conditions you are in, so that you can resume your studies properly. There’s no pressure, you will have time to prepare and study everything you need. He told me that you can access the books and consult the teachers if you need it. You just have to complete some data of this form and you start as soon as possible. What do you say?" Annette was behind him, smiling warmly, as only a mother can. And the girls looked at him, expectant.

 

Daryl got up and ran to Hershel to grab the papers. "Can I ... now?" He said taking a pen from the table. Hershel nodded with a smile on his face. And before leaving, he felt arms around his waist.

 

"Thank you," said Daryl, almost whispering. Looking at him, Hershel saw how he wiped his tears a little with the fist of his jacket.

 

"There's nothing to thank me for, Daryl. You deserve it" he said stroking his head.

  
  
  
  


*****************

But one day, that joy that he had begun to embrace with his arms wide open began to change. The problem? Gareth. You see, even after a while in the house, Daryl still had a bad thorn with the guy. Gareth was tall, clearly bigger than himself, and for sure much stronger. It reminded him a little of his father.

 

Yes, Hershel was also heavier than Daryl, but like his daughter, the first few weeks he asked for permission every time he wanted to get closer. Daryl was not surprised. It seemed that the family made a deal behind his back on how to act in front of and towards him. At first he was upset, he didn’t want to be treated like a child or an object that could break, but he realized that all they wanted was for Daryl to be comfortable and enjoy his time with them. And it really worked. He loved everyone. He started to felt part of them, especially with the girls. But not with  _ him _ .

 

He’d made the mistake (although at the time he didn’t think so) of telling Annette that he liked the mechanics a lot and that he shared that with his brother. As far as Hershel was concerned, it occurred to him that he could help Gareth in the garage. Then, everything got worse.

 

"I dunno ..." he told Hershel after listening to his idea.

 

"You decide, but maybe you can learn something and help me with the machines. What do you think?" He insisted, smiling at him.

 

"’kay," he said and went out the back door of the house, going to the barn in search of the man.

 

When he got there, he felt a chill all over his body; ran from his neck and back, to his knees. He surrounded the place until he saw the guy. Gareth mustn’t have been more than twenty-five years old, but his gaze was already somewhat predatory.

 

"Hi, Daryl. How do you feel? "He said, in a falsely friendly tone.

 

"Mmh good. You?"

 

"Now, excellent" and looked at him from head to toe. "Tell me, what do you need?" He asked, wiping his hands on his pants.

 

"Hershel... Hershel told me ya could teach me some mechanics. To... help’n here" Daryl replied, somewhat uneasy. Everyone knew that if he got nervous or uncomfortable somehow he would start to move from one side to the other, and to bite his thumb. He looked like a bloody baby, according to Will Dixon.

 

"Oh, of course. In fact, I have to check his truck now. If you want, you could join me. How's that?" Daryl nodded silently and followed him to the garage. Gareth lightly brushed Daryl's arm as he passed by, making him feel cold in his body. He really didn’t want to be there.

  
**[START OF ABUSE SCENE]**

Not many days passed before Gareth began to show his real intentions with Daryl. At every opportunity, Gareth touched him or rub his arm, his lower back, his hand, his hair. Always laughing and smiling, the damn bastard. It wasn’t long before Gareth pushed him into a corner of the garage, stamping him against the wall and grabbing him by the bottom of his pants, stroking his crotch with one hand while with his arm and all the weight of his body tightened Daryl against the wall. Daryl tried to get away from him, but he couldn’t. He began to feel nausea and pain in his back. He hadn’t healed his wounds long ago, and some days he still felt some pain.

 

"Hey, no, what’chu doin? Stop it" a small tremor was noticed in the boy's voice.

 

"Shhh, just stay quiet"

 

"N-no ... don’t do it, please Garreth," he begged, a lump in his throat as he tried not to cry, struggling to get out of those hands.

 

"Easy boy. This is what you need to get better and be more comfortable with us. Or did you think Hershel was going to give you all the love in the world without having to ask anything in return? Do you want him to find out you're ... well, a fucking pussy? "He said while sniffing her neck.

 

"What?"

 

"Come on, you don’t want to cause more trouble for poor, good Hershel, do you?" Gareth was staring at him. Daryl nodded 'no'. "Well, now, concentrate on how good it feels." The bastard held him fixed against the wall, until he finished on his boxers. And before letting him go he said

 

"This is the deal, Daryl, you let me do this and I don’t tell Hershel what you are" and before leaving, he wink at him. Daryl sat on the floor, knees against his chest and hid his head in his arms and inhaled and exhaled a few moments. He knew he was going to get sick.

**[END OF ABUSE SCENE]**

 

Daryl ran to his room, ignoring Annette's offering of a sandwich. When he closed the door, he went to the bathroom and vomited all his breakfast in the toilet. He felt he could not breathe and the worst thing is that he could not contain his tears. He was sitting on the floor, holding his body with his arms, and as very pathetic as he was he began to cry, trying to keep quiet so that no one would hear him, to the point where he felt he couldn’t breathe. What the hell had he done to go through all this? Why didn’t they just leave him alone?

 

He was hyperventilating. "Shit. Calm down, idiot”, he told himself. He heard someone knock on the door of his room.

 

"Daryl? Are you okay?"

 

Dammit, it was Bethy. He made an effort to answer, but the words stuck in his throat and the little air in his lungs made it impossible for him to even make sound. He got up from the floor quickly and immediately the girl entered the room.

 

"Daryl? Hey, what's wrong?" she said trying to take his hand, but Daryl shuddered and stepped away from her, while Bethy looked up at him, bright eyes.

 

"Sorry"

 

"Do you feel sick, Daryl? Do you want me to call mom? "

 

"No, don’t call her!" He said alarmed. "Only ... the heat made me dizzy a little, that's all" he said smiling, pretending to be carefree.

 

"Alright. Emm ... Could you help me with my math homework?" She asked, smiling from ear to ear, just like the first time she saw her. She never stopped giving him that smile.

 

"I'll be right there" he smiled.

 

"Okay, thanks Daryl" the girl turned around and ran out of the room. The boy took a deep breath again and drank water. He looked at himself in front of the mirror and turned around, heading towards the living room.

 

God, he wanted to start school right away. 


	4. Get away from me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is better at school with new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: allusion of cutting and suicide thoughts. Also, panick attacks.

Daryl set out to study all day, and all night if necessary, to be able to make that damn test as soon as possible and enter the school. It would be a good excuse to be able to leave the house and not suffer the abuses of Gareth. Each time he helped less in the barn, but that implied that the abuses were more intense. "Don’t think that this “nerdy kid” time will save you from this part of the deal," he had said.

 

He thought that studying and concentrating more could help him forget some things, but it wasn’t that simple. At night his head didn’t stop showing him images, reliving every afternoon that happened with that man. Sometimes he could see him and his father laughing at Daryl, while he, lying on the floor, couldn’t contain the tears. Sometimes, he just couldn’t breathe.

 

Many times he didn’t eat, knowing that sooner or later he would vomit everything and not being able to sleep made him more clumsy. He tried several times to get distracted with the girls, especially with Bethy, playing with her or reading her stories, but the tiredness, the little food and fear, made him end up getting angry with her and shouting at her. And he didn’t want to be that kind of person. Eventually, Bethy almost didn’t even look for him to do the homework. He was angry, angry because they didn’t notice his attitude and if they did, they would forgive him or they would just not say anything to him because 'he was going through a difficult time'.

 

Well, they didn’t have the remotest idea of how difficult it was. He couldn’t stand it anymore, and if he didn’t something about it he would soon go crazy. And without realizing it, he became addicted to something else. 

He was helping Annette in the kitchen, the woman was talking about something that had happened during one of the visits to the hospital, but her voice felt very far away. It was as if they were talking to him under the water. Suddenly he felt pain in his hand and only when he heard Annette's voice worried did he realize that he had cut off the palm of his hand.

 

"Daryl, honey, are you okay? Come on, sit down while I get the first aid kit" Daryl sat on one of the kitchen chairs and looked at his hand. He was bleeding a lot, but the feeling in his hand was ... pleasant. It was like a tingling, tolerable burning. It was something that relaxed him.

 

It was like… he was in control of his body reaction…

  
  
  
  


Right?

  
  
  
  


*******************

Hershel sat next to him one afternoon, while he drank a glass of water and had the science book open with the exam questions in sight. He had just had a "hectic" morning in the barn (disgusting, he would say) and tried to lower his nerves a little. He had already tried it in the bathroom with his razor, but it had not worked well at all. And he had already felt a lot of pain today. If they noticed that he was "soft" for not enduring part of the deal, they would surely throw him out of the farm. 

 

"What's the matter, Daryl?" Hershel asked, noticing that Daryl's gaze was directed at nothing but the books in front of him.

 

"Nothin," he told him.

 

"Come on Daryl, you're not like this"

 

"Like what?" Daryl said, with a defiant look.

 

"You are distracted, tense. The other day you answered Bethy badly. I know you're not like that" Daryl looked down at the glass of water. "Is something you want to tell me?"

 

**_Yes, of course. As if I was going to tell you the truth of what happens. For what? You'll just kick me out._ ** "I'm sorry, it's just ... I wanna go to school and I can’t ..." His hands made a gesture, as if he were grasping something with great force, full of frustration, and wanted to break it.

 

"I understand, but you can’t let that affect you. Remember that you are supposed to enjoy the process. Maybe you need more time ... "

 

**_Maybe..._ ** "Yea, that. I need to study more. Maybe I shouldn’t spend so much time with Gareth in the garage," he said excitedly.

 

"I thought you liked spending time there ..."

 

"Yes, but now getting in on school is more’portant to me"

 

"All right," the man said, a little surprised at the boy's attitude. "If that's what you want…"

 

"Yes, thank you Hershel. I’ll try to calm my nerves a bit" he said, nodding. He got up, leaving the man alone and went up the stairs to the room.

 

He closed the door and slid to the ground holding onto it. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly but tremulously.

  
  


_ Just get him away from me _

  
  
  


**********

 

Daryl finally managed to take the test and entered the school, one that was around the corner from his sisters' school. But after a while, he started having problems.

 

The tiredness of pretending that everything was fine, of being forced to be home with the family, of changing the bandages of his self-inflicted wounds and lying about what was happening with Gareth led him to fall asleep in class or to answer badly to some teachers, which wasn’t good at all. While his grades were not bad at all (in fact, they were very good), he couldn’t concentrate too much. Added to the comments he received for being "the new one of the class". Some pushed him, or threw his food. He ended up hiding in the bathroom most of the time, not wanting to leave.

 

It was as if everything had returned to normal, where he was a damn fool, a nobody. Apparently his father was always right. Hershel told him that, if he wanted to, he would take him out of school, maybe he wasn’t ready to come back yet. But after all the support they had given him, answering them badly and letting his mood decline day by day made him feel worse.He couldn’t do that to them. He just couldn’t.

 

So all he could do was pretend, pretend that everything was fine, greeting the girls kindly when he waited for them outside of class to go back to the farm together and study in the dining room; when he tried not to show any pain or discomfort in their presence; when he helped Annette in the kitchen, when he listened to Hershel's plans to enlarge the orange tree plantation, when he went enthusiastically to the barn.

 

At night, he could feel Gareth's laughter, seeing how he dealt with the situation. "Cutting? Really? You're more sissy than I imagined ... "

  
  
  
  
  


One morning, Hershel told his daughters and him that Gareth would take them to school because he had to be elsewhere. First he left the girls at school and then he got Daryl to his school, and before letting him get out of the car, Gareth took him by the arm.

 

"Don’t think I'm stupid, I know you're avoiding me, boy. You're not going to get away with yours. You know very well that this is a condition for you stay in the house "

 

"Let go, you're hurting me"

 

"Listen to me, boy," said Gareth, closing the fist that held his arm harder. "It's you or one of the girls. Or do you want me to start playing with Maggie or Bethy, that spoiled little girl? That’s what you want? Because I could do it, you know? Now that I think about it would be more fun ... Maybe, the mechanics are not just for little-men like you "

 

"Don’t’chu dare touch them," Daryl said between his teeth. Those girls became literally like his sisters and he wouldn’t let anything happen to them. Over his dead body.

 

"Oh, jealous? Do you like me to touch you then? I knew you were a damn faggot" Daryl shuddered to hear that word. It was like talking to a young version of his father, only more perverse. Will Dixon would never have bothered him... touched the way Gareth did. "I'm going to try something new with you next time, and if you refuse, well, some of the girls will satisfy my needs. You heard me?"

 

Daryl let go of his hands and opened the car door as fast as he could, despite the fact that his hands were shaking.

 

He entered the school, went to the first class and sat in the last chair at the back, put on the hood of his black jacket and leaned on the desk. He could feel the gaze of someone fixed on him, so he looked up. Beside him, a young dark-skinned girl looked at him intensely. She seemed somewhat worried, but ignored him after a big, red-haired boy kissed her and sat in the other chair next to her. They shared a few words until the science teacher came in and the class began.

 

When the class finished, he was the first to leave, almost running and got into the bathroom. He planned to spend all his free period there. He had to read some history, but his book was in the locker, so he decided to forget about it. He opened one of the cubicles and sat there. Suddenly, his chest began to hurt and he couldn’t breathe properly. He felt that he could not get air from around him and he became desperate. Agitated, he closed his eyes and began to count, but the numbers did not come out in order or at least he could not put one to the. He wanted his razor.

 

He felt someone open the bathroom door and remembered when his father came into the room, drunk, looking for him in the closet to take him out and beat him. He covered his mouth with both hands, making it harder for him to breathe and suddenly the cubicle door opened abruptly, a gust of wind flying the strands of hair on his face. He shuddered when he felt someone touching his arm. "Let me go," he said, but it was only a whisper.

 

He was sure they would get him out of there to hit him, but the blow never came. In fact, the hand on his arm began to caress him, followed by a voice that seemed distant. He opened his eyes and could see, with his cloudy eyes, someone in front of him kneeling at his feet. A girl, the girl in the class. She was saying something, but he couldn’t understand what it was. As he could he fixed his gaze on her until he noticed that his sight cleared. The girl spoke quietly.

 

"Calm down, just breathe. Inhale and slowly release the air. That's it" she said and Daryl noticed how the girl withdrew her hand from his arm, raising them in front of his eyes so he could see them. Without realizing it, he was following the pattern of breathing she showed him. He looked up a little and saw the big man with the red hair behind her, with clear concern in his eyes. Was that concern for him? 

 

"Hey, eyes on me. That's it. Relax, it's over" she told him.

 

He closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled. "Thank you" he said looking at her out of the corner of his eyes, in a shy voice.

 

"Don’t worry, dude, it happens to all the new ones," said the red-haired. "We all hate high school, don’t worry. We just have to finish it soon and get out of here "

 

"Muscles, enough. Hey, are you okay?" The girl asked. Daryl nodded.

 

"Are you going to tell us what are you do in the ladies room?" the boy laughed.

 

"What?" He said looking at him in astonishment.

 

"Yeah, well. It's the women's bathroom" the brunette said smiling slightly.

 

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry," he said trying to get up, but he felt a little dizzy and the girl took him by the arm again. He flinched again and the girl looked at him fixedly worried before looking at the big man for help. Or wanting to say something, Daryl did not know.

 

"Come on, bud. Slowly. Come to the sink and drink some water. My name is Abraham, and this beauty is my girl, Sasha" he said and held out his hand.

 

"Daryl ..." he said taking his hand.

 

"Well Daryl, I think you need a some air. How about we go to the patio? I think we shared a free time. Also, the guys are there, "Sasha said.

 

"Guys?" Daryl said, staying still in place after grabbing his backpack.

 

"Yes, the others. Come on, you'll like them" Abraham assured him and put his right arm on Daryl’s shoulders, noticing how he shuddered, again. But he ignored it and led him outside.

  
  
  
  


***********

 

The "guys" were great, in fact. They were Denise, T-Dog and Aaron, plus them three.

 

They spent most of the day talking nonsense, and they realized that they shared some classes together. Daryl discovered that the boys had a black sense of humor, among other things, but that they were good people. Somehow it felt good to be in his company, he didn’t remember feeling like that way in a long time. He didn’t have many friends before and the one he had ... well, he didn’t know what had happened with Tom.

 

That day he learned that Abraham "Muscles" wanted to enlist in the navy when he finished high school, as his father had done. Sasha didn’t like that idea very much, but she knew it was his dream. She wanted to be a firefighter while her brother Tyresse dreamed of being a professional NFL player; that Denise "D-psy" was a fan of psychology, that T-Dog wanted to be "something like a lawyer", but he still hadn’t decided. And that Aaron, who was openly gay in the group, wanted to be a politician.

 

After a great day (at last, thanks to all entity), he excused himself saying that he had to leave, to pick up the girls from their school. "What girls?" T-Dog asked softly, almost laughing with a sassy face. Although Daryl paid no attention to him and the group told him they would walk with him. After all, they were all going the same way

 

Maggie and Bethy were already waiting for him sitting on the stairs steps. Seeing him, Maggie smiled widely at him and picked up her backpack, while Bethy ran out screaming his name, again with that smile from ear to ear that she always had for him. He was taken by surprise by the strong hug she gave him, taking him by the waist, almost knocking him to the floor.

 

"What took so long?" Maggie said, looking at the guys behind him. "Have you already changed us for other people?"

 

"No, I didn’t," he said smiling shyly. Daryl turned around and introduced them. "Maggie, Bethy, they're Denise, Sasha, Abe, T-Dog and Aaron. Guys, they are ... "

 

"His sisters," Bethy said quickly, very excited, holding Daryl's hand. He exchanged glances with Maggie and she nodded before speaking to the others.

 

"A pleasure, guys. It was time for Daryl to get friends to stop bothering us" she said, playing, pushing Daryl a little with her shoulder and he looked at her with a false hatred.

 

"The pleasure is ours, ladies. Let me tell you that you have a great big brother," Aaron told them, smiling at them "you take good care of him, okay?"

 

"What do you think we do every day," Bethy said, haughtily.

 

"Bethy," Maggie warned, giving the boys a "I'm sorry" smile.

 

"Well, I have to leave before my mother loses her head, as hysterical as she is. Daryl, welcome to the group. Ladies..." Denise said goodbye, looking first at the boy and then at his recent sisters. Before leaving, she kissed Daryl on the cheek.

 

Daryl stood still, his face clearly redden and no way to hide it.

 

"Relax," Abe said laughing, seeing his face. "She is so lesbian it’s sad. Of Aaron you must take care of yourself, unless you play for the same team" Daryl felt like his legs for a second became.

 

"Hey, be careful with gays, we fight very well when we want," Aaron said, laughing. "Ciao, friend," he said and they all left.

 

"Congratulations, you're officially part of high school," Maggie said laughing.

 

"What?"

 

"You already have friends, you can come with more enthusiasm" Maggie told him. "I noticed that you didn’t enjoy coming to classes" and her face looked worried. It was probably because of the new relationship of brothers they had. "Let's go home, I have a lot of things to read. Hey, where's Gareth? Shouldn’t he be the one to pick us up?" And thank God before Daryl had a second panic attack that day, the horn of a truck caused the three kids to turn around, and they saw Hershel waiting for them.

 

"How was your day, guys?" He asked them as they climbed into the car.

 

"Bored as always, Daddy"

 

"Yes, except that we met Daryl's new friends" said Maggie mocking a bit.

 

"Is that true?" Hershel asked, looking at Daryl, sitting next to him.

 

"Yea, I met them today so..." he said shyly, looking at him out of the corner of his eye and playing with his fingers.

 

"Well, that’s great. You should invite them someday "

 

"Really?"

 

"Of course, it's your house, after all"

 

"And we are your sisters, remember?" Maggie said, approaching behind him. "Bethy told his friends that we were... So, now you have an extra responsibility being our 'big brother'" she said, raising two fingers of her hands for emphasis.

 

Daryl laughed a little, but then he remembered what Gareth had said, and his smile faded. He  look outside the window the whole way back to the farm, in silence, while his new sisters talked. When they arrived at the farm, they got out quickly, running and playing whoever came first to the house. Daryl took his time to get out, not wanting to come across with Gareth.

 

"Hey, Daryl," the man stopped him. Daryl looked at him, closing the door at the same time as Hershel. "What I said... You should invite your friends. You are not only in the house, you live here, it's your home "

 

Daryl nodded and walked towards the house.

  
  
  


_ Dammit. _


	5. Please, don't.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie's birthday party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Waning: explicit sexual abuse. (Marked on text, dont worry)

Several days later they were celebrating the fourteenth birthday of his ‘sister' Maggie.

 

Apparently some friends of the girl would come and stay for dinner, probably occupying the whole house. So, he tried to decorate the house with Bethy early. They made a couple of posters for their sister, wrapped some gifts with Hershel's help and left them near the fireplace.

 

He went to the kitchen and saw Annette cooking the birthday cake. They were talking a little about his Literature notes when she realized that she was missing some things for dinner.

 

"Oh, no, I need more potatoes. Could you go with Gareth to the market, to get some?"

 

Daryl, who was with his back to her, opened his eyes wide and a chill left his body immobile. He swallowed. "Why don’t I go with Hershel? So could I talk to him about my driver's license? You know, that way we won’t bother him or Gareth to take us to school anymore" It was something he had already said and they had promised to discuss soon.

 

It would be a good time to do it _now_.

 

"Oh honey. Hershel is in the office trying to close numbers from the farm. And it's no trouble taking you guys to school. There is no problem with that. I promise that after the birthday, we'll talk about that. Now, can you go with Gareth?" she asked smiling. Daryl nodded and it took a lot of willpower to move his legs to get out of there and go to the barn.

 

When arriving there, Gareth was arranging a pruning machine. When he heard a noise he turned and saw Daryl standing motionless. "Ha, it looks like I'm not going to give my gift to Maggie after all," he said, putting his hands on his hip. "What is it? Jealous because today is her day?"

 

Daryl wanted to vomit from nerves. He forced himself to talk, moving from side to side, as if cornered. "Annette ... Annette needs p-potatoes, from the market" he said. **_Stupid, stop shaking_ **.

 

"Really? Well, let's go, we'll have some time for ourselves" and he took Daryl from the neck of the shirt and they went to the truck.

 

He started the vehicle and after a few miles, they went into the forest near the farm, where Hershel had found Daryl. "What’chu doing?" He asked, feeling a wave of panic cover his whole body.

 

"I promised you something new and you didn’t come to pick it up," he said, turning off the engine and getting out of the car. Daryl followed him with his gaze as the other circled the truck to open the door of the passenger seat. "Get in the back"

 

"No, I won’t"

 

"What did you say?" He said pulling him out and closing the car door. He grabbed Daryl from the chin and pushed him against the door. "Would you rather me going for Maggie ...?"

 

"NO! But…"

 

"But nothing, damn faggot. Get in the back, NOW! "

 

"Let me go"

  


**[BEGINNING OF SCENE ]**

Gareth grabbed his hair and banged his head against the car door. Daryl felt an electrical current in his body that paralyzed him for a few seconds and when he opened his eyes he could see that he was dizzy, small black spots covered his sight. Gareth opened the back door and pushed him inside. "Take off your pants," he ordered.

 

"No, Gareth..." The man this time grabbed him by the neck and swooped down on him squeezing him against the seat and pulling his pants down with one hand. "Oh yes, I knew you would get excited. Do you like it hard, boy?" he said when he saw that Daryl's member was a bit hard.

**_What the hell ...? I cannot be enjoying this. What the hell was wrong with me?_ **

 

Gareth inclined to the boy's ear and whispered. "Now given this is the first time, I will do all the work. But next time, you will get on your knees and open that pretty mouth you have for me. Did you hear me?" then he took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of Daryl, who, turning his head to his side to get away from him, was completely immobile. In his head he prayed that his body would react: that he would push him, hit him, that his hands would scratch his face, _something, damn it!_ But he didn’t react.

 

The man knelt in front of him on the floor of the truck and took Daryl in his hands. First, and without letting go of his neck, he massaged his balls, making Daryl feel a wave of pleasure, going from his low hips to his scalp. Feeling his penis rise, Gareth began to lick the length of the member with his tongue and then began to massage Daryl's member up and down, while he tried to think of something else.

 

But he could not prevent his anatomy from reacting to the stimulus. He found himself panting with pleasure. It felt very good ... **_NO, idiot, you can not enjoy this_ **. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but Gareth began to move the hand that held his penis faster and the other leaving his neck, approached to his anus. "Look at me, Daryl." The boy almost jumped in the seat to hear his voice, but his eyes were still lost beyond the window of the car. "LOOK AT ME!". Daryl flinched and turned his gaze to the man in front of him. "I'll start with a finger and tell me what you feel, okay?" Gareth told him and continued to suck on his penis.

Daryl was running out of air, he was very agitated and felt a pressure on his penis that he had only felt when he was with that boy in his room, before his father found him. Gareth noticed this and as soon as he put a finger in Daryl's anus, he found himself coming in the other's mouth.

 

Tears began to fall from his eyes. He couldn’t believe what was happening. What he had just done. He felt nausea in his throat and a strong pressure in his chest, as if he was taking his heart out. Gareth pulled Daryl's flaccid penis out of his mouth and looked into his eyes. "Damn virgin, that's what you are. Don’t worry, next time, with a bit more of pre-game, you'll be a mess when I finish with you. "

 

Gareth released him and got out of the car, leaving Daryl almost naked in the vehicle. The heat he felt from the body next to him disappeared, causing the boy to tremble from the cold and from the tension that slowly left his body.

 

**[END OF SCENE]**

 

"Fasten that filthy trousers and let's go back. The potatoes are behind the chicken pen." He said laughing. Daryl tried to get out of the truck, but his legs, weak from trembling, surrendered and made him fall to the ground. This could not be happening. "NOW, Daryl!" He shouted. Crying, he pulled up his pants, buttoned the button and as he could he sat on the passenger seat again. He felt alot pain all over his body and suddenly found himself exhausted by everything that had happened. He still couldn’t breathe right and of all the things he could feel at that moment the only thing that came to his head was disgust, shame for having done something like that. It's supposed to ... that doesn’t happen when ... It doesn’t happen. It cannot happen. God, what the hell had he done?

 

When they reached the farm again, they both got out of the car. He took Daryl from the back of his neck and he flinched again, desperate not to feel close, but Gareth ignored him. After having the damn potatoes in their hands, they went to the kitchen. Gareth wanted to come by and say hello to Maggie, the bastard. After what he had done to him, after threatening to abuse Maggie on her birthday! Daryl went to the kitchen in silence and remained motionless. Annette turned to see who had entered the kitchen and her smile faded from her face when she saw Daryl.

 

"Honey, what happened to you?" Annette asked, who was now very close to him and he hadn’t noticed.

 

"Oh, he’s fine Annette, he only hit his head with the roof of the truck," Gareth said behind him, making Daryl shudder and move from his trance, lowering his head and standing behind Annette, who seemed odd the attitude of the boy

 

"Oh, you must be careful Daryl" he nodded. "Go wash and then we can finish with the sandwiches" she said worried, patting his shoulder, and while he went to the bathroom he could hear Gareth's disgusting laughter.

******

 

The party was a success. Everyone danced, ate and the girls sang some songs that only they knew. Daryl tried to enjoy the party, without anyone noticing his shock. After they sang Maggie's happy birthday, Bethy, Annette and Hershel left, leaving their daughter's friends alone for their slumber party. He waved at Maggie with his hand, in the distance, almost without looking up.

 

He didn’t taste a bite all night, but he still went to brush his teeth. He picked up his brush and placed the peppermint paste in it, but he froze. He remembered everything that had happened and couldn’t believe it ... a need to vomit immediately invaded him and he went to the toilet, expelling only a little bile.

 

Once he could compose himself, he went back to the sink and was able to rinse his mouth. And at that moment the image of his brother Merle came to his head. He tried to imagine what his brother felt every time he saved him from a beating from his father, him paying the price. Did he feel perhaps disgust by his brother, anger because the other didn’t know how to defend himself? Di Merle hate him? Or did he hate himself for not being able to get both of them out of that situation? Although after all, his father had never sexually abused them, but still …

 

Now Daryl was the older brother. And he would do anything for those girls. For the whole family, in fact and now for his new friends. And never, NEVER, could he blame them for something like that. He could never feel that this was "a favor” that he would later charge. Only Merle was like that ... But this ... this was to save himself, to continue living a life that didn’t correspond to him. At that moment he felt like an intruder of that house, of that family. Maybe he didn’t belong there after all. And that ... this was a punishment for his selfishness.

 

He left the bathroom and noticed that Maggie was standing there, in the room, looking at him.

 

"I don’t know which bug got you today, but you weren’t so happy today. Don’t you love me anymore?" she said, joking.

 

"No," he said, but when he saw the girl's face he knew he had made a mistake. "I do love you, Maggie. Just... "he replied looking at the floor, shrugging. "Just..."

 

"Listen" Daryl looked up at his face. "I don’t know what exactly, but I know something is happening, and you don’t want to talk about it. And I know I would never understand what you went through before you got here, but ... I just want you to know that no matter how old I am ... I will always protect you. I love you Daryl, you're my brother, I don’t care about the blood you have. You can always talk to me, about anything." she said approaching slowly towards him. "No matter what happened or if you did something wrong, I will always be on your side"

 

Daryl could feel his eyes getting wet with tears that threatened to fall. He nodded and looked at the floor again, biting the lower lip of his mouth to keep from crying. "I know, Mags"

 

She laughed. "I like how that sounds, 'Mags'" and that made Daryl let out a small laugh. "Hey, can I?" And he knew what the girl, his sister, wanted to do. He nodded again, with many nerves. He felt like he could not tolerate another person touching him today, but it was _Maggie_.

 

She stood in front of him and took him by the neck, winning a tremor in the boy's body. She brought her head up to his forehead and supported his in hers. Both inhaled and exhaled each other's air. "I got you, Daryl," he said.

 

She released him, smiled at him and left with her friends.

  


That night Daryl didn’t sleep.


	6. He's gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth is out

Little was missing for his 17th birthday. And even though he knew it was his birthday, that he now had friends to celebrate with and a family that would prepare something special, he couldn’t stop thinking about what was happening.

 

Again and again his head came back to remember Gareth’s words:  _ This is part of the deal _ . He unconsciously knew that it couldn’t be true. Hershel wouldn’t let this happen to him, after all he had given him: a place to stay, food, a sense of family, the possibility of continuing his studies. How is it that a person as good as he could just let this happen to him for being ... gay? He couldn’t understand how he managed to get out of an abusive place and into another, practically worse than the previous one. And worst of all, Gareth reminded his father a lot.

 

In the way he spook, in the way he pretended affection in front of others, in the way he looked at him or treated him. The lies that he knew he said but could not assimilate as such. The hatred that was expressed in the denigrating words that Gareth told him ... little by little they were turning into a testament a truth that after all was not true, deep down he knew that it was not, a testament of hatred that was added to the one his father had already written. His father, Will Dixon, who had never appeared at the door of the Greene farm to claim him, to minimally threaten him with death, as he had done every day until a while ago.

 

He didn’t understand why he had not appeared yet. I mean, his father was a damn bastard, but he was his father after all. How is it possible to just forget a child? How is it possible not to worry where he is? Didn’t he even want to know if he were alive? How is it that there are such different parents in the world and he, in just seven months, had experienced those two possible versions?

 

All those questions, and many more that he did not dare to finish formulating, were always in his head, making his friends worry about him every time they saw him. They had begun to notice that Daryl was more muted than before, not that he talked too much anyway, but …

 

"Hey Hunt," Denise told him, knowing that Daryl knew how to hunt and handle a crossbow, she had assigned that nickname "What's wrong?" she asked, sitting next to him on one of the park benches. They had gone to the fair with Maggie and Beth and she and the lovebirds had joined the meeting.

 

"Nothin’, D-psy," he said, biting his thumb.

 

"Come on, you're on another planet, Hunt. Tell me, girls problems? "He said nudging him, while letting out a laugh.

 

"Nah, it’s just  that ... How’s it possible for som’people to have two faces? I mean ... that they are good in front of others and then in private they are ... the devil itself?" he said, looking towards the craft stalls.

"Hey, if you have problems just come to my house. Or we will go with Muscles. Any of us, you know we have room for you "

 

"Yea, I know, D-psy," he said, this time looking at the floor.

 

"I understand that you don’t want to say much. In fact, you never do it" she said smiling. "But ... You could go with the police if ..." but what her friend was going to say was interrupted by the arrival of Sash, Abe and his sisters.

 

"Hey, it's a beautiful day. Change those faces" said the brunette laughing.

 

"Pretty-please, can we go for ice cream?" Bethy exclaimed almost begging.

 

"Yea, come on," said Daryl, ending the discussion; he got up from the chair and took Bethy's hand and they started to move away, followed by Maggie who told her about something she had seen.

 

"What's wrong?" Sasha asked D-psy, pointing with his chin where the boy and his sisters were walking.

 

"I think he has problems at home. With his father, probably, but he didn’t want to tell me much "

 

"Do you think the guy is violent?" Muscles asked. “By the way he is always flinching like scared deer or avoiding physical contact, I wouldn’t doubt it" he said while eating a caramelized apple.

 

"Yes, that's true. Although it would also be noticed in girls, right?"

 

"Daryl is always very damn quiet about his family," said Abe, his mouth full of apple.

 

"When is Daryl not quiet?" Sasha said.

 

"Yes. It’s like he only lives for his sisters, "Denise said.

 

"We should do an intervention. Like the ones on  that show that T-Dog and Aaron like, How I met your mother or some ... "said Abraham.

 

"I don’t know, I don’t think it's the right thing to do. If he has any problems, I think we should let him process it and tell us later" Sasha said, watching Daryl turn to look at them.

 

"YER COMIN’ OR WHAT?" His friend yelled at them from afar.

  
  
  


*************

 

"How was the fair?" Annette asked, hearing the boys enter through the front door. She was sitting on the couch and she was feeling a little nervous.

 

"Good, mom. We ate ice cream, and Bethy and I won some prizes "said the older girl, smiling and greeting her mother with a kiss on her cheek.

 

"I'm glad. Hey girls, go upstairs, your father and I need to talk to Daryl alone". Daryl, who was hanging the coats on the front rack, turned quickly and looked at her. At that moment, Hershel and two police officers approached them from the kitchen. The girls greeted their father and went up, Maggie smiling at Daryl and nodding. Daryl couldn’t help feeling that her greeting meant [i]everything will be fine[/i].

 

"Hello Daryl. Let's sit at the dining room table and talk for a moment, okay?" Hershel said. Daryl nodded and was the first to sit on the end of the table. Shit, they had discovered him, everything  and they would kick him out of the house. He didn’t want to be there, he didn’t want Gareth to talk about what…

 

"Daryl, they are the officers Shane Walsh and Rick Grimes. They come to talk about your father" The man said, with a serious but uncomfortable look. Daryl stared at him. What did Hershel know about his father?

 

"Hello Daryl," said Officer Grimes. "Don’t worry, you're not in trouble," he said when he saw the boy's face. "Only ... we have bad news about your father"

 

"What bad news? What happened?" He asked, nervous as voice trembled a little.

 

"Well, there was a complaint under his name, because nobody in the neighborhood saw you in a long time and when we went to the house ... your father ... had a heart attack," Walsh told him.

 

"What?" Exclaimed Daryl.

 

"I'm so sorry, Daryl," Hershel said.

  
  
  


_ Wait a minute... _

  
  
  


"How did ya know I’s here?"

 

"Excuse me?" Grimes asked.

 

"How did you know I’s here? I mean ... how did ya find me to come and tell me this?"

 

"Honey, when we found you and brought you here, we had to tell the police and social services. Your father had several complaints of domestic violence and knowing that, we processed the temporary possession ... we are your legal guardians. That's why you could go back to school and so on. You are legally allowed to be here. And your father never approached you so ... we didn’t need to report anything else. Just ... the moment he did it, social services would make sure to keep him away forever," Annette said, explaining and saying each word slowly, making sure the boy understood and was the least traumatic for him.

 

"Wait. All this time, ya knew he could get close to me and DIDN’T TELL ME? AND WHAT THE FUCK DOES IT MEAN LEGAL GUARDIANS? "

 

"Daryl, there is no need to yell" tried to calm him down Hershel. "We tried to make this affect you as little as possible. We didn’t know that this was going to end like this "

 

"Daryl, honey, being your legal guardians means that nothing and nobody can get you out of here unless they intervene with a lawyer. Here you are protected "

 

"PROTECTED? Protected, ya say?" Daryl cried, letting out tears that he didn’t know had formed in his eyes. He got up from the table, throwing the chair to the ground. "He could have found me whenever he wanted. He could ... "  **_could have killed me if he found out that Gareth..._ ** . Daryl pulled hard on his hair with his hands.

 

_ This was not true ...  _

 

"Daryl, even if your father approached you, I wasn’t going to let him hurt you" Hershel asked, very worried and tried to approach the boy, but he flinched before he could touch him.

 

"Sure, because ya wouldn’ kick me outta here for bein gay, didn ya?" He accused, with great pain reflected in his eyes.

 

"What? What are you talking about, Daryl? "Hershel asked.

 

“Gareth…”

 

And in that moment he realized everything. By saying that out loud, he confirmed a truth that he hadn’t  wanted until that moment: or Hershel really played stupid in front of the two policemen or it was true, everything was a lie. He knew deep down that it was a lie. Gareth was just a damn bastard who took advantage of him. And now he had opened his mouth, he had fucked up deeply. Hershel would never hurt him for being different ... And Gareth…

 

**_Gareth is going to kill me ... ._ **

  
  
  


_ Run. _

_   
_ _ JUST. _

_   
_ _ Run. _

  
  
  


**********

 

His legs couldn’t go faster. Once again he knew that if he stop, someone could find him and kill him. Someone could end his life, and perhaps do him a big favor, but this time he would leave many people behind. Many, who, without almost knowing him, had offered him a hand, a home, and a family. How could he be so fucking stupid to believe that, so fucking blind?

 

It was getting dark, the sun almost didn’t touch his skin anymore, but he didn’t care. He wanted to be alone there in the forest, he just wanted to get away from all that situation. He wanted all this to stop, he wanted… No… he needed his fucking razor. 

 

He had been with that family for about 8 months and they had been the best and worst months of his life, at the same time. Well, not of all his life, because his life was already terrible, but with them he found some emotional tranquility that he hadn’t had in his family. They didn’t judge him, they didn’t hit him for saying something silly, they accepted their differences and they never pressured him to do anything he didn’t want to do. Hershel had kept his word. 

 

The only problem was Gareth.

 

He sat under a tree and brought his knees to his chest, trying not to be colder than he already was. He covered his head with his hood and let his body calm down. What the hell was he going to do? If he left there, everything was over. Good bye friends, good bye family. He would probably end up in an orphanage and wouldn’t leave until he turned eighteen. He would completely lose all hope of being someone, of being happy.

 

"Hey," someone said. He was so focused on his thoughts that he didn’t hear any noise that indicated anything near him. He turned to where the voice came from and saw Officer Grimes, who was breathing heavily. "Wow, you are fast, kid." He took a few moments to inhale and exhale and pointed to the open space next to Daryl. "May I?" The boy nodded silently and the officer sat down.

 

"Hershel told me I could find you here. You like nature, uh? "He asked kindly. "What's going on, kid?"

 

Daryl answered with a shrug. "I cannot be here, not anymore" he said, sad.

 

"Why?"

 

"’Cause I can’t.  I'm an idiot. I talked about it and now they know" he told him, like Grimes was an idiot himself!

 

"They are not angry at you, Daryl, they are just trying to understand what's happening. Every father wants to keep their sons safe "

 

"But I'm not his. Not after this anyway" he hides his face on his legs again.

 

"Whatever this Gareth guy told you ... it's not true" Grimes told him. Daryl looked at him right then with this ... hope on his eyes. Like he have known, but needed to be told to make it real. “What was that about?” and Daryl shook his head. No! “Hey, I promise you are not in trouble. Please tell me what Gareth told you”

 

"He told me that ... if I wanted to stay, I had to ... He said Hershel would kick me out if he found out I was gay. So he had to ... That was the deal. I got to stay here and have food and go to school but I've ... "Grimes knew what he was referring to immediately and said cursed under his breath. Daryl continued: "And if I didn’t let him, he would do it to the girls. And ... I can't. Those girls are like my sisters now; I wasn’t gonna let him get near them. No way..." he said, crying nonstop.

 

"Alright. Can you ... Can you tell me how far did he ... " he asked, carefuly.

 

"He didn’t... he weren’t I-inside. Just touchin’ or kissin’ and ... he was violent sometimes when I didn’t do what he wanted..." he said almost whispering. Immediately all the times that Gareth had bothered him came to his head and a very strong stomach ache made everything in him stir. He threw himself to the side and vomited, while his tears kept falling.

 

"It's okay, it's gonna be okay now," Grimes said, stroking his hair. Daryl left him, he needed that. He needed someone to assure him that everything was going to be alright, just like Maggie. That hand on his head gave him a sense of stability, of tranquility. Then he heard the sound of the officer's radio. "Shane, I found him"

 

" _ He alright? _ " 

 

"Yeah, hey listen. Get that Garret guy, we need to lock’im up "

 

" _ Oh shit! Let me guess, child abuse _ ? "

 

"Yeah," he said, with a bitter tone and ended the call. "Hey, Daryl, how 'bout I take you home? My partner will get him and take him away. But I think you need to talk to Hershel "

 

"He'll send me away, isn’ he?" he asked him, looking sad with puffy eyes.

 

"Listen to me" Rick told him, placing his hands on the kid's shoulders for him to look at him. "This ... is not your fault, kid. You were abused in the worst way. I cannot imagine doing that to my Carl" the cop said smiling. "He's four now. And believe Daryl when I tell you ... that family adores you. Hershel loves you like a son and he would never do something like that to you. He won’t send you away for who you are. Never. He wants you here, with them. Now let's go before you get sick, alright? "

 

Daryl nodded and Rick helped him up.

 

They walked in silence until they reached the house, where Annette received the boy with a big hug and left him a kiss on the forehead. Daryl could see how the other cop, Shane approached Rick and whispered something in his ear. The expression on Rick's face was not good. Rick answered something and Shane left the house, taking his cell phone out of his pocket.

 

"Daryl..." Hershel whispered in relief when he saw the boy. He ran and hugged him as if his life depended on that. One hand hugged his shoulders and the other over his head. "I'm sorry about this, kid. I'm so sorry". Hershel felt Daryl hold him tight as well, hiding his face in the man's shoulder.

 

"Hershel, Annette. We're gonna put a search warrant for Gareth, given that he's on the run. Shane is making the call right now. We'll give every cop a picture of him for anyone to catch him if they see him" the married couple nodded. And Daryl looked at Rick, worried. "Don’t worry Daryl. We'll get him. In the mid-time, I think you guys need to talk, so..." he said, turning to leave the house.

 

"Wait!" The kid stopped him and the cop turned again, looking at him. "Can you ... stay, please?"

 

Rick nodded and the four of them sat down on the couch.


	7. Tell us the truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl talks to his friends (and they are the best)

A few weeks later, Gareth's search continued. Apparently he had left town, seeking refuge elsewhere, but policemen from several counties were informed that they should catch him alive to face a conviction for child sexual abuse. And since Daryl was a minor, his name was never mentioned at any time.

 

Daryl felt somewhat protected, but even so he wasn’t having a great time. Neither Hershel nor Annette were far away from him at anytime and his friends were getting closer, without even knowing what was happening, but they did notice a change in his attitude and some other things about their friend. Things that they had not noticed before or at least weren’t as visible as they believed.

 

What things? Well, the way he almost didn’t talk anymore; how everything was always about  for or either about his sisters, the way he was startled at some noises or yells or conversations that became agitated, the way in which the last months he was losing weight and barely tasted any bite at lunch in school. The expression on his face, as he looked around, looking for someone that wasn’t there.

 

And more things that they noticed when they went to the farm.

  
  
  


One morning, Hershel insisted Daryl to invite them, to have some fun, to be distracted and think of something else. The family noticed that it was a good thing for him, to be around them. At least they believed so. 

So, Daryl called them to tell them and give them the address. Once this was done, he set out to prepare dinner with Annette and the girls, while Hershel prepared a section in the house away from the rooms so they could stay there, without any noise bothering the rest of the inhabitants of the house. Once the menu was finished, Daryl showered and waited for his friends to arrive.

 

One by one they arrived at the door of the farm and Daryl received them with hugs and jokes and the married couple smiled for seeing him like that. After all, they were there to have a good time so they set out to try it. Sasha and Abraham brought drinks, while Denise, Aaron and T-Dog brought movies and snacks.

 

After Bethy's insistence, both brother and sister made a tour for the guys around the farm and the house. After that, they left their things in the room Hershel seated and they all sat at the table for dinner. Until that moment everything was fun, but from one second to another everything began to change. His friends began asking questions about Daryl's childhood, his family. They honestly were trying to get to know him, there was nothing wrong with that, but most of the stories that emerged were invented and Bethy began to deny them. The situation became so tense that Daryl began to feel the need to get up from the table and hide in the closet of his room. He avoided looking at his friends and even at Hershel. He wanted that dinner to end and before he could do anything about it, his red-haired friend decided to end that farce.

 

"Okay, what the hell is going on here, Hunt?" he asked. Daryl looked up and fixed his eyes on him. For a fleeting second, he look at Annette and Hershel.

 

"What’cha mean?" he asked, foolishly

 

"Come on, you think we're idiots?" said T-Dog.

 

"Guys, I ... just wait" Daryl asked them.

 

"Seriously, Daryl. What's going on here? Do you think we can’t see something strange happening here? There isn’t a photo of you, neither adult nor baby; you are not in any of the family stories, Christmas, holidays. Nothing, your room just doesn’t seem yours. There is nothing in the house that indicates that you are part of this family " Abe accused him.

 

Bethy started crying and went to sit with her mother and Maggie who was sitting next to Daryl started to said something only to be stopped by her father. Denise saw this and said "Do not think for a second that we will not call social services on you" looking angry at the older couple.

 

"Why do you hate your  son so much, uh? Wasn’t he wanted or what? He a bastard you had to take care off?" Sasha went.

 

"SHUT UP!" Daryl yelled at them, getting up from his chair. "Stop, right now. Just ... please, stop" he whispered and backed away from the table. His left hand traced his face downward, trying to calm down.

 

"Guys, I will kindly ask you to calm down and listen to us for a second" Hershel said as Maggie got up from the table, to get close to Daryl and grabbed his arm. She whispered something to him and the nodded kid, letting a shaky breath go and sat down. Annette smiled at her and held her husband hand.

 

"Daryl?" Hershel called him after a few minutes and the kid nodded without looking at him and sat down; he was trying to calm down and his fingers looked much more interesting that the upcoming conversation. 

 

"Hunt, what's going on?" Sasha asked.

 

"Annette and Hershel, here ... they are my legal guardians. I ... " he said and looked at his friends for a second each. He took a deep breath again and started telling them the whole story. "Couple’f months ago, I ran away from ... from my house. My pa... he is ... was! He was an abusive asshole, a drunk" and after he said this he looked at Bethy and Annette, meaning to say sorry. The woman nodded and smiled at him. "He um... used to beat the crap outta me" he looked down again. "One night ... He ... he beat me up so much that I was unconscious for a while. And when I woke up, he told me to leave. So I did. I had to, it was leaving or ... getting killed by him" some tiers went down and Maggie held his hand, squeezing tightly. He squeezed back.

 

“I was really hurt but I kept walking the entire night until I got to the rode and that’s where Hershel found me and… he took me here” he looked at his friends, the girls were crying and Abe was angry, while Aaron and T-Dog were stunned. “Them gave me a place to stay, food, send me to school. They all have been the best. And… I thank them for that so much” and looked at his family. They all smiled at him and Bethy went to hug him.

“Daryl, I… we… my god, buddy” Aaron said. “We are so glad you are safe now, Hunt” he got up and went to Daryl and he hug him. His friends got up too and after a few seconds, the image of a group hug, some tears and laughter made the family smile.

“Why didn’t you tell us before, you idiot?” Sasha asked him, punching him on the shoulder.

 

“‘m sorry. It’s just… it’s complicated. There’s more to that but… it’s enough for now”

“Daryl, you are a tough sonuvabitch!” Abraham said, hugging him again. 

“What about your mother?” Denise asked.

“She died, few years ago. There was a fire… she was passed out drunk and… I have an older brother too, Merle, who’s in jail and he’s gonna be for a long time…”

“So what happens with you now?” T-Dog asked him. “I mean, you stay here and that’s it?”

“Well, Daryl can stay here until he turns eighteen and then he gets to decide what he wants to do. First, he finishes school, then he can go to college, get a job. For now, our job is to make him feel safe as best as we can” Hershel answered. Daryl smiled at him, knowing that the thing with Gareth wasn’t over yet.

“Daryl?” Bethy was grabbing him by the shirt. When he looked at her she asked. “Can we still call you brother?”

“Of course, little monster. Come here” and he lifted her up and held her tight. Bethy put her arms around his neck and hid her face in it.

“I think it’s time to leave you alone and talk some more. Maybe you guys can get to watch the movies you brought” Annette said getting up from the table, Hershel followed her movement. “Let’s go girls. You can see Daryl tomorrow”. His sisters – man, that sounded so nice – hugged him and kissed him on his cheek. They all said goodnight and their sorry’s for the misunderstanding and they all went to bed. When they were alone, Aaron asked him something.

 

“Hey, why… why did you have to go? What happened?”

“He.. he found me kissing someone. A guy?” he said, looking sorry and shrugging one shoulder.

“Wow, that’s really old news” T-Dog said and Daryl looked at him, astonished.

“Well, it was kind of obvious, dude. I mean… you never look at any girl so…” Abe said.

“Do they know? Have you told them?” Sasha asked him, grabbing his arm. “I did and they are okay with it”

“I’m happy for you, Hunt” Aaron said, smiling at him.

  
  
  


***********

 

That morning he woke up and the sun came through the window warming the whole room and his bed. That peculiar glow of the autumn days that he liked so much. He sat on the bed and looked around. A beautiful image, full of shades of yellow, brown, red and the end of the green summer tone. You could tell it was a bit cold tomorrow, but with the sun it was the perfect balance.

 

Days like these were the ones he enjoyed most when he went to the forest with his crossbow.

 

He remembered those afternoons, where when escaping from an ugly and cold place, he was in the middle of the forest, in his true home, his refuge. He was surrounded by trees that moved with the wind, which formed a clear circle and lit with the sun reflected on the ground: it was the perfect setting. The wind and the trees whispered melodies, sounds that in a certain way made him feel safe. The smell of earth wet with the morning dew, the warmth on his face. He closed his eyes and let that heat impregnate him with energy. When opened, a beam of light shone, dazzling, but at the same time highlighting each color. He took off his shoes and made his feet feel the earth, playing with the leaves of the autumn trees. He felt like his spirit belonged to that place; It was him and nature, nobody else.

 

That was a great way to enjoy the morning of his birthday, but this time the morning routine was different. He got up, put on his slippers and went to the bathroom. He washed his face and looked at himself in the mirror. If someone had told him that in a year this would be his life, he would have told him that he was crazy. If someone had told him that downstairs, in the kitchen, a family with breakfast was waiting for him, his favorite, by the way, and a table with gifts, would have laughed and gone away. But hey, sometimes things happen without you doing something about it.

 

He left the room, putting on a gray and blue cotton jacket, chosen by Bethy one day they had gone shopping, and prepared to go down the stairs. When he reached the last step, he noticed that no one was up.  _ That's weird _ , he thought. When he reached the kitchen he saw that everyone was on their backs, each one focused on a sector of the room, not paying attention to his arrival and a man was sitting at the table. The man stared at him, but his face changed every second, forming the face of his father and Gareth's.

 

"Happy birthday, you little faggot," he said, with a malevolent smile.


	8. Birthday Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl turns 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: cutting.

Daryl woke with a start, panic threatening to come to light, but again he was in bed. The same image, the same landscape, the same sun giving it warmth. He swallowed and jumped up from the bed. "Was a dream, just dream". He went to the bathroom and washed his face, for the second time it seemed.

 

He sat on the toilet and took a deep breath the number of times he could to calm his nerves, but it didn’t work. He quickly opened the drawer of the sink and stuck to the bottom of it, was his razor. He took it in his hands, while they trembled and lifted the shirt, bringing it down to his torso. He closed his eyes and took another deep breath. _ SHIT _ ! He thought and threw the razor to the ground. For God's sake, it was his birthday. He couldn’t do this on his birthday. He got on his knees to take it and put it back in its place. He sat up and looked at his face in the mirror. "Ya are an asshole," he told himself. And he came out of the bathroom.

 

Moments later, he went down the stairs and walked to the kitchen and when he arrived there was nobody, but the table was set and all the food was there. He turned and before he could utter a word the family was in front of him, with happy birthday posters, balloons, some bags with gifts and shouting  _ HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DARYL _ .

 

Maggie and Bethy ran to him and hugged him tightly, almost knocking him to the ground. Annette came over and gave him a kiss on the cheek and Hershel ... Hershel also hugged him tightly, giving him a kiss on the head.

 

"I ain’t... I ain’t know what to say. Thank you, "he said, looking at everyone.

 

"Let's go get breakfast!" Bethy yelled and ran to the kitchen, pulling Daryl.

 

Late in the afternoon, Bethy was in the living room, playing the piano when Daryl arrived from the market with Hershel. They had gone to buy a couple of things for dinner with the boys, while Annette and the girls had been cooking and decorating the house.

 

He approached the girl and sat next to her. She was practicing a new song, that sounded very good. "What song ya playing, little monster?" he asked.

 

"Something I wrote" she said, smiling at him. "You like it?" And Daryl nodded. "Would you mind if I play it tonight?"

 

"No, not at all. Ya are really good at it" he told her. She really was, and her voice was ... well, she sounded like an angel, if that was even accurate.

 

"Can I and Maggie stay for one movie with you and your friends?"

 

"Of course ya can" he said and then the doorbell rang. "Speaking of friends..." he smiled.

 

Upon opening the door his friends lifted him into the air and began to sing a ridiculous song that seemed to have been invented along the way. A tall black-skinned man was laughing at them at the door, to whom Hershel came to say hello while the boys pulled Daryl away from the door.

 

"Hi, I'm Tyresse, Sasha's older brother. It's really nice to meet you, Mr. Greene" he said, shaking Hershel's hand.

 

"Oh yes, I've heard a lot about you. You know, your sister told me you are looking for a job? "

 

"Yes, yes in fact I still do. A sister and a school debt can be a little ... you know, too much" he said laughing.

 

"Well. I'm looking for someone strong and able to be here early in the morning. Think you can manage that? I gotta be honest, it's heavy work" Suddenly, the boys were paying attention to the conversation among the other adults, expectant of Tyresse's decision.

 

"Yes, yes thank you so much" he said and shaked Hershel's hand again. "Hey, Daryl, happy birthday, man"

 

"Thanks, Ty. Hey, ya can stay if you wanna" Daryl told him and smiling after seeing Sasha's face.

 

"No, you will not stay" she said pointing to finger at her brother and punching Daryl on the arm. 'Ouch', heI quietly said.

 

"Don’t worry. I get to see my friends tonight, but I'll pick you up in the morning. Behave, you all. The man here is my boss now "

 

"Bye, Ty," Daryl said. And then, the boys pushed him to the couch to open the gifts: a no-sleeves T-shirt, a key ring for his backpack and a photo album.

 

The album was made by hand (Aaron’s job for sure) and was leather, a beautiful red wine color, with gold details on the loin and the lid. He opened it and noticed the yellowish color of the pages, something rustic and old. The first photo was of Maggie, Beth and him: it was the day they went to the park. The three of them were sitting on a bench eating ice cream and making faces. Daryl laughed remembering that day. The following pictures were of the guys: sitting on the grass in the sun, or on their first outing together as friends. Another in which the boys had gone to the farm. From Bethy playing the piano and Maggie drawing. From Hershel and Annette on the porch, drinking tea. The next picture was of Daryl and his crossbow while pointing at nothing. He remembered teaching Denise how to hold it and make a shot, the next picture was of Daryl walking down a tree-lined street talking to Abraham. On his back he could see his brother's backpack. And in the last photo he could see his brother Merle.

 

He looked up to his friends, questioning them how they got that picture and before he could say anything he saw Officer Grimes dressed in civilian clothes, entering the house with a shoe box. The man looked at him and noticed the album he was holding in his hands. "I see I got here at the right time," he said handing him the box. "There's more in here. They came to me after you told them your story and ... when I went to your father's house, I found some pictures. So ... here ya go. Ya can already put them in the album. "

 

Daryl opened the box and found a very broken photo of his mother, and more pictures with his brother. He put the box to one side and went to hug Rick. "Happy birthday, Daryl" he said to him.

 

"Thank ya, all of you. This is ... awesome" he said, to tremor in his voice.

 

"And there's one more" Maggie told him. "We asked dad if we could give you this one and he said yes, so this is for you". She gave him a black leather case with something inside. He knew exactly what it was and before taking it out, he looked at the girl smiling and then at the Greene family. Daryl opened the case and saw a beautiful hunting knife. Of black handle and a sharp blade that when moving it reflected all the colors of the rainbow. "We know you like to hunt so, I hope this helps you get the rabbits we all love to eat" as she said this, all the people in the room laughed. "Happy seventeen, brother" she said to him, smiling.

 

"Thanks, Mags "and he hugged her.

 

"Okay, I'm hungry, let's eat something." Abraham yelled and they all went to the kitchen.

 

They ate, laughed and sang together. Daryl could not believe that there were so many people around him who loved him. It felt good to know that everyone there was enjoying their presence, their friendship, their affection. They sang happy birthday to him, they ate cake and as promised, Maggie and Bethy stayed to watch a movie with them.

 

The next morning, Tyreese went to pick up his sister and the others. They said goodbye at the entrance and when he turned to enter the house, he had a strange feeling, as if someone was watching him. He looked around but didn’t see anyone so, without further ado, he entered the house and sat in the armchairs in front of the fireplace with the Greene.

  
  
  
  


****************

 

One morning he decided to try his luck with his crossbow and the knife they had given him. He took both, his backpack, a coat and some cookies. He walked until well into the forest and once he found his perfect place, his refuge, he planted camp. It was exactly as he remembered it. He took a few moments to enjoy the place, the smell of earth, the sun, the wind, true to his memories. Moments later, he dropped his backpack and headed deeper into the forest.

 

He moved stealthily, trying not to make noise. He became one with the place, moved in time with the movement of the leaves of the trees. His controlled breathing, he felt in control, he felt centered and at the same time free. Free as he hadn’t felt for a long time.

 

He remembered those afternoons in which Merle would take him out of the house and teach him to discover footprints, recognize places and sounds. He missed his brother, beyond being a great idiot sometimes. It was he who saved him from the beatings of his father, at least until he went to jail. He taught him to be a good hunter, useful, agile and he put that to the test every time he went out into the woods. It was a way to honor his time with him.

 

He tried to make a lot of silence to listen to any noise or sound of an animal. Suddenly, the breaking of some branches made him startle and when looking at where the noise came from, he saw a rabbit. Smiling, he placed his crossbow in his hands, aimed and fired. Right on the target! He ran to where the animal lay and picked it up. After having three beautiful specimens in his possession, he headed back to his refuge. But when arriving at the place he saw a shadow move quickly and move away from the place. He ran to the forest clearing and noticed that his backpack was not there. 

 

"No," he said looking around. Maybe he had thrown it somewhere else. "No, no, no, NO" he shouted.

 

Someone had taken his backpack. Merle's backpack… Someone…

 

_ Gareth _ .

 

He looked around again and saw no one.  _ Fuck _ , he exhaled and ran, leaving the rabbits forgotten. When he arrived at the farm, he could see Hershel, Annette and Beth on the porch, laughing and having hot tea. When greeting him they could notice that he was agitated from so much running and a little scared.

 

"Daryl, honey what's wrong?" Annette asked him.

 

"My bagpack..." he said panting. "Someone took it... back in the woods"

 

"You sure, didn’t you drop it somewhere else?" Hershel asked.

 

"NO, I DIDN’T" he have yelled. Bethy looked at him then, a little scared. "Sorry I ain’t ... Someone was back there ..." he stared at the older man in front of him and tilted his head to bit. And Hershel knew.

 

"Are you sure?" He said, standing up.

 

"Yea" Daryl answered, almost pleading.

 

"I'll call Grimes" Annette said getting in the house.

 

"Okay, both of you, inside. Now! "

 

A few hours later, Rick, his partner Walsh and some other policemen toured the place. Daryl told them where he had been that morning and where he had seen the shadow, but when checking there was no one or anything to indicate the presence of someone else in the forest.

 

"Maybe it was an animal, kid" Walsh, Rick's partner said to him.

 

"No, it wasn’t" he said to him, angry.

 

"Okay, okay, we'll keep looking. Stay here at the house with Hershel and Annette and calm down. We'll figure this out, alright?" Grimes said, grabbing his shoulder in a reassuring way. Daryl nodded and the cops left.

 

"Terrific" he said quietly, and went to his room.

  
  
  
  


*************

 

The days passed and there was no news that what he saw had been a man, an animal or whatever the hell it was. Nothing. Daryl knew it must be him, who else would steal his backpack? The spirit of his father? An animal?

 

Those days, Daryl barely tasted a bite and slept very little, less than before, afraid that Gareth would appear, but between family and friends they tried to reassure him. Even tho he was sad he’d lost his backpack, he decided to spend some nights at his friends’ houses, perhaps to distract himself, or to distract Gareth.

 

Sometimes they came to stay on the farm; They made camps in the back of the house, with marshmallows, chocolates and cookies. And some occasional cigarette without being seen by Hershel. Of course Tyreese, Sasha's brother, knew it and many times he caught them smoking: he always threatened to tell Hershel, but he never really did. Daryl liked Tyreese; as the weeks passed, he discovered new things about him and his sister. He was very respectful and hard-working guy, kind to everyone.

 

He talked to Daryl about life, people, families. They spent a lot of time together, while he talked and Daryl listened, and sometimes he answered some things. But when the kid had a bad day or he was just tense, he would grunted positively or negatively. And Ty understood. It was like being with Merle, but Ty was completely different, Daryl didn’t know how to explain it. In a way it made him miss Merle ... but at the same time he didn’t. He was nothing like Merle: that is, no one can be as racist, homophobic, misogynist and drug addict as Merle ... but even tho he loved his brother. But above all things: Tyreese never touched Daryl, not without asking first. And that is something he appreciated very much. 

 

One afternoon they were in the barn, accommodating some boxes that Hershel had ordered. Daryl didn’t really want to be there after what had happened there, but the fact that Ty used it now to work had made it change a bit the atmosphere of the place and Daryl no longer felt so much panic or shortness of breath every time he was there. Although he always found something or saw something or Tyreese just moved in some way that made him remember Gareth. No one knew exactly what he had done to Daryl or where he touched it, much less what he asked Daryl to do, but they were all right that it had been abuse. 

 

"What happened with the other guy?" Tyreese asked him once, while they were talking about some shit the older guy saw on the TV the other night.

 

"What?" Asked Daryl, his voice nervous. He was distracted with the toolbox he recognized as Gareth's. That's where he kept the handkerchief with which... He remained motionless when he saw it. And he knew that Ty’s eyes were on him now. A few seconds later, he was calling him.

 

"Daryl?"

 

"Sorry, ya was saying ...?" He said.

 

"The guy that used to work here. Why did he left?" The look on the guy's face kinda looked like he knew. Was he just asking or was he confirming it? "I mean, Mr. Greene doesn’t want to talk about it. He's ... pissed at the guy. You know something about it?"

 

"Yea" Daryl whispered, while placing a box on top of another. "He did ... stuff" his gaze went directly to the box he was working on and stood there. He tried to just do something but his hands remained motionless as they had begun to tremble.

 

And Daryl's silence told Tyreese what it was about. He stared at Daryl, though the boy's gaze remained on the box. 'Dammit,' Ty thought and looked down again. "To your sisters? Or you?" And again, the boy's silence answered him and when Tyreese walked towards him, he saw Daryl’s eyes closed. "For how long Daryl?"

 

He sighed. "Started couple weeks after I got here ... Eight months, maybe?" he said, tilting his head slightly but not quite looking at Ty.

 

"Son of a bitch ..."

 

"He ran away after I told Hershel. Police's still lookin’ for him. "

 

"I'm so sorry Daryl. For all you went through, it's not fair"

 

"It's okay, I'm just glad it didn’t happen to Maggie or Bethy" he said, leaving the box and going to grab another one.

 

"Hey," Tyreese stood in front of him now. "They're gonna get him, don’t worry about that" and Daryl looked at him, fucking big blue eyes ripping the older guy's heart. "Come here." Ty hugged Daryl, like he would his sister. Daryl returned the gesture, squeezing his torso as much as he could. "Thanks man". When the boy released him, Ty stirred his head a little, leaving Daryl's hair all untidy.

"Now, go, it's getting late and Hershel will kill me if I keep holding you back, now that I know why he worries where you are all the time"

 

"Yeah" he said and started walking towards the house but stop. "Hey, Ty? Sasha ... she don’t ... they don’t know ... "

 

"I promise I won’t tell anyone"

 

Daryl smiled. "Yea. See ya tomorrow, Ty "


	9. Would you choose us?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The calm before the storm

He had woken up a few minutes ago, but didn’t feel like getting out of bed at all. Winter was getting closer and closer and his bed was becoming more welcoming. Collecting his strength, he sat down and began to dress. He put on his trousers, his sneakers, a T-shirt and his black sweatshirt. He looked toward the window and a small ray of sunlight peeked through a few clouds. He smiled and thought it was going to be a good day. 

 

He got up and started his daily routine. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but it kept him distracted from anything else he didn’t want to think or feel (and cut himself too): go to the bathroom, wash his face, comb his messy hair a little and rinse his mouth. Before he could finish enlisting, someone knocked on the door of the room.

 

"Yea?" He heard the door open and then closed. He left the bathroom and didn’t see anyone. "What the ...?" When he went to the door, he saw a poster stuck on it.

 

**“Follow the signs downstairs”**

 

Confused, he opened the door and saw a paper with a pink arrow stuck to the railing of the staircase that led to the rooms. He quickly walked to the foot of the stairs where there was another sign.

 

**“DO NOT MISS ANY OF THE SIGNS. NO CHEATING”** he read and laughed. It was Bethy's handwriting.

 

**“If you were given”** , he read next and climbed down to a few steps where there was another paper.

 

**“the opportunity”,** a few more steps ...

 

**“to pick”,** another five left ...

 

**“any”** . The next paper was another arrow, so he climbed down the last step and when he looked around to his left he saw all of his friends: Denise, Sasha, Ty, Abe, T-Dog and Aaron holding the next sign and some rainbow balloons. The sign read

 

**“Family in the world…”**

 

He looked at their faces and there was happiness in their eyes, big smiles on their mouths. "What are ya ...?" he started, smiling at them. But Abraham shushed him and pointed to the kitchen. He turned again and saw the most beautiful thing. The picture looked perfect.

 

Standing in the kitchen were Hershel, Annette, Maggie, and Bethy, who held what appeared to be the last sign. All with smiles full of hope on their faces. The ray of sunlight he had had from the window of his room was bigger and filled the kitchen with heat. It delineated them delicately, illuminating them. It looked like a religious image, one of those you see on the internet when you look for images of saints or those things. He looked down at Bethy's hands, a white sign filled with colors, butterflies and flowers. It had clearly been the creation of Maggie, the drawing artist of the family. The perfectly matched colors, each hue perfectly delineated inside the drawings. The sign read …

 

**“Would you choose us?”**

  
  


He read it almost ten times in what ... two seconds? He looked at them and smiled, tears threatening to fall.

 

"Daryl, would you be officially our big brother?" Maggie asked him, her voice so kind.

 

"I ... what's that even mean?" he laughed and he swears he could hear his friends laughing at him.  _ Dude's an idiot? _ , he heard T-Dog say.

 

"It means we want to adopt you, make you officially part of this family. We wanted to give you the papers for your birthday but we couldn’t get them on time, so..." Annette said.

 

"Is this for real?" he asked her, hope in his eyes. She nodded.

 

"You want to take a look at this first?" Hershel asked, showing him a wooden paper envelope in his hands. Daryl sat on the chair and Hershel handed him the envelope. He opened it and started reading words he didn’t understand, or maybe it was because of his emotions, trying to blow up his heart.

 

"It's just some laws and other legal stuff, we can skip that part" Hershel told him, searching for one page in particular. "Here." It looked like a contract, a family contract.

 

> "In this agreement it is announced that the individual named __________ becomes officially part of the Greene´s family.
> 
> The adoption finalization process was held on November 18, 2008, under guidance and documentation by Andrea Holden, a lawyer experienced in children's rights and child welfare.
> 
> Under the following signatures, the Greene family is given legal and identity paperwork for the minor in question.
> 
> The members of the Greene family are
> 
> - Father: Hershel Greene
> 
> - Mother: Annette Greene
> 
> - Sister: Maggie Greene
> 
> - Sister: Beth Greene.
> 
> The status of the child in adoption becomes the older siblings of both girls.
> 
> Thanks to the power that the law confirms, the adoption is registered in the central offices of Child Care and Social Control of the county of Atlanta, and above all, of the government of the United States of America."

  
  


Under that letter was the signature of all the lawyers and people involved in the adoption. Followed by signatures of the Greene family, at least adults. But something caught Daryl's attention. The space where his name was written was empty, but followed by that empty space there were three different names. He read them carefully and then looked at Hershel.

 

"It's your choice, son" he said to him and it sounded so nice, to be called like that. At the beginning he didn’t want it to be called that but now ... it was completely different.

 

"Where do I sign?" Daryl asked smiling. And Annette indicated him. He grabbed the pen and wrote his name on the paper after deciding the one he wanted. "Done"

 

Beth turned to his friends and yelled "WE ARE HAVING A BROTHER".

  
  


It was a good day.

  
  
  
  


***************

  
  


While he was really happy about the adoption, Daryl was still afraid. Afraid to screw things up, now if he disappointed them it would be worse, afraid of hurting her sisters. But more than anything, fear for Gareth. He needed the cops to catch that bastard and fast. He no longer wanted to leave the house, and going to school began to weigh him; he just wanted to stay inside the house, and to be able to do that and nobody to notice that he was really worried about what was happening, he spent time with the family. His family: his mother, his father and his sisters. It was a good way to see how to do things well so as not to hurt them.

 

He was in every artistic moment of Maggie, in every piano lesson of Beth, in every preparation of the dinner or lunch or snack if his friends or his sisters’ came to the house. And he began to be in every paperwork Hershel did; the truth is that he wanted to learn more about how the farm was run, about the animals that Hershel was working with, about any problems that there might be. He would do it well, [i]he must[/i] do it well, for them. And if he couldn’t do it or he did he make a mistake, he simply locked himself in the bathroom and pulled out his razor and drew lines over and over again.

And so it happened a few weeks, since the adoption. He loved the Greene, very much, but his head was always somewhere else.

  
  


And that night, he experienced his worst fear.

 

The rain rattled the windows and the wind shook the trees hard while they were at the dining room table, Daryl with his science assignment, Maggie with math calculus (which she still hated and always asked his brother for help) and Bethy was reading a story for her language class. The cold near Christmas and the rain made no one want to leave that room, which was heated by the fire in the fireplace.

 

Completely deconcentrated from his science assignment (he was there reading the same page for at least an hour), he closed the book and leaned on it. "Long day?" Maggie asked him and out of the corner of his eye he saw the girl staring at him. Daryl only growled in response and started to look out the window, noticing how the dark colors of the night completely seized the park that surrounded the house. At that moment he thought he saw something, a shadow moving in the distance, behind the trees.

 

"Daryl?" He heard a voice calling him, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the window and the trees. He looked again fixing his eyes trying not to see the storm and saw movement again.

 

Scared he got up from the chair and walked closer to the window and suddenly someone took him by the shoulder, making jump of the fright. "Son, everything all right?"

 

"Yea ..." he said vaguely, glancing sideways at Hershel who was standing beside him. "Yea‘s all right. Just ... nothin’, forget it. "

Hershel looked at him suspiciously. "Hey, could you go get the briefcase in the barn? It's on the top shelf on the right "

 

"Yea, right away," he said, looking one last time out and couldn’t see more than his own reflection in the window.

 

"Can I go with you, Daryl?" Beth asked, her sweet voice making the boy smile.

 

"Sure, com’on" they both wrapped themselves, took umbrellas and left.

 

Daryl couldn’t believe that Bethy could talk so much in the distance between the house and the barn, but every day he was surprised by the girl. She told him about a class she had had that day, where the teacher had taught them all the different types of families in the world: with a mom and a dad, with two dads, with two moms, with only one father or mother, with siblings, only children, with adopted children and that had made her remember of him a lot. Daryl loved his sister, always so happy and so liberal, open-minded for all kinds of problems and issues of life, that even for his young age, she had a response thought purely. Moments like these, where his younger sister, the little monster, showed him her simplified vision of life, only full of love and hope, moments like these ... made his new life a luxury.

 

When they reached the barn, they went to the shelf where the briefcase was, but halfway to try to take it, they heard a noise. Both brothers turned around and while Bethy did not see anything strange, he did. His backpack…

 

Merle's wings backpack was lying in the middle of the barn. A shiver ran through Daryl all over his body. He felt like he was losing control of his body as he began to tremble from head to toe. Cold ... cold invaded every inch of his hands, arms and legs.  **_No .. no ... no._ ** A new noise made him look up, leaving the backpack forgotten on the floor and from the shadows he could see how Gareth's face was forming as he approached them, a disgusting smile, reflecting on his face.

 

"Hello, Daryl," he said. Automatically Daryl took Bethy by the arm and placed her behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea what adoption papers say so I did a silly thing for that hahaha i hope you enjoyed it


	10. It's gonna be okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It gets better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: explicit rape scene and description of harm to a child.

"Oh, come on, don’t be like that. You know I only want you. " And for every step the fucking asshole took toward them, Daryl was dragging his sister back, trying to keep Gareth from noticing he was approaching her at the barn door.

 

He clicked his tongue telling him not to do what he was thinking, the fucker knew everything. "Oh, no, let her stay and play for a while. Beth?" He called, staring at her, "why don’t you go and sit over there? I have to speak with your ... brother" and the last word he said slowly, this time his gaze resting on Daryl.

 

Daryl looked at Bethy and nodded, indicating that everything would be fine. The girl began to shed tear after tear, and trembled. Daryl could not stop thinking that she knew what was going to happen. But without saying any words, the girl approached a pile of straw and sat there, crying. She looked at Daryl in the eyes one last time, and the boy clearly saw the terror in her eyes. And Daryl knew in that moment that he didn’t want to see those eyes again in his whole life.

 

"Let me tell you, Daryl ..." said laughing mockingly. "You did it". Gareth began to approach Daryl again, slowly, surrounding him while Daryl remained motionless. While his body trembled like the leaf of a tree in the winter wind, he couldn’t move a single muscle if he tried. He felt the bastard's hands begin to brush against him. "You got a house ..." he said taking off his wool hat. "You got to go to school" and his hands rested on his shoulders, slowly removing his jacket. Daryl simply let go of the tears he did not know, they had formed in his eyes. "You got friends ..." and his voice was so close to Daryl's ear that he shuddered and tried to walk away, only for Gareth to take him tightly by the arm to keep him from slinking. "And you got a family." And he pushed it towards the ground.

  
  


**[BEGIN OF ABUSE SCENE]**

 

Daryl fell back abruptly, hitting his butt and back. Suddenly Gareth took him from his shirt and stamped him on the floor, looking at him with crazy eyes, wanting eyes. Daryl felt his hands begin to touch him everywhere, under his shirt, in his crotch, in his ...  **_Please, Bethy, don’t see this, please don’t see this_ ** , he thought. Gareth tried to kiss him and Daryl tried to keep him from do it with his hands, scratching it on his face and neck, but Gareth took his hands and sat on his chest, each of his knees now holding the boy's arms, and while with one hand held Daryl by the hair, with the other he unbuckled the belt of his own trousers.

 

Daryl couldn’t move, he was trying to squeeze out from under the man, but he couldn’t. Merle's voice somehow echoed in his head. "Yer weak, little brother. Pussy, com’on. Defend yerself". Gareth was still bigger than him, stronger. "Get off me," he said through clenched teeth. He felt like he was running out of air, as he struggled to throw him to the ground and his vision began to blur, maybe it was his head trying to block what was happening. He tried to hit him on the back with his knees, but he couldn’t reach it. His cry began to grow louder, more desperate, begging him to stop, to please don’t do it, not in front of Bethy. "Stop it, please don’t."

 

"Shut up" Gareth yelled at him and hit him hard in the face. Once, and again and again, almost knocking him out. The man got up and then pulled Daryl’s trousers off, leaving them just a little lower than his hip, and began to touch him at the entrance. Daryl flinched and let out a moan trying to move: fear, pain, disgust impregnated in the sound of his voice. The blows on the head had left him really dizzy, but with a little force he pushed him and hit Gareth on the nose, causing the man to scream in pain. "Fucking sonuvabitch." He hit him again, this time in the ribs, leaving him again without air.

 

Gareth turned him over, this time his chest against the floor and he felt a pressure in his lower body. He was on top of him, pressing him to the floor and suddenly ... just pain.

 

He began to scream and Gareth hit him hard again in the ribs and placed a piece of cloth in his mouth. He took Daryl by the arms and placed them on his back, the angle painfully immobilizing his shoulders and torso. "Yer going to take it and fucking deal with it, fagot." Daryl's sobs, the pain in his body and the pressure in his chest made his lungs shrink and shut any entrance of air. He felt his body move back and forth at the same time as a thumping from behind made his body complain of pain. The straw on the floor of the barn stuck into his skin and stomach, because his shirt had risen with the movement.

 

Suddenly, with his eyes blinded by pain and tears, he looked to where Bethy was sitting and the girl was gone.  _ No, no ... where ...? _ , and that's when he realized: she had ran, she had escaped. Surely to look for Hershel, it was now or never, so he decided to act.

 

Despite all the pain he felt, he hit Gareth in the face with the back of his head and the man fell backwards, freeing Daryl from what was filling him with much pain. He removed the cloth from his mouth and inhaled and shouted as loud as he could.

 

"HERSH ..." but before finishing Gareth had hit him on the back strongly, and Daryl let out a sob of pain. But Daryl moved and hit him with the elbow in the face once more and took advantage of the man's complaints to scream again. "HERSHEEEL".

 

Gareth grabbed his hair and hit Daryl's head on the floor a couple of times. He covered his mouth with his free hand, returning him to the previous position and aligned himself with the boy's hip. “I’m not done yet” he said and once inside him again, Gareth moved, thrusting him each time with more brutality, his movements more erratic. Daryl took advantage of a moment in which the hand in his mouth moved lightly and bit him. The man growled complaining of pain and stepped away abruptly, leaving Daryl’s body again and holding his hand to his chest, staining his clothes with blood.

 

Daryl quickly regained some air and shouted again ...

 

"DAD".

 

He tried to stand up, but the dizziness caused by the blows on his head made him stagger and fall to the floor on his knees, his arms holding his torso, trembling. "DAAAAD," he yelled once more and lost all the strength with which he tried to move away from Gareth when he felt a throbbing pain in his side, from the back. Daryl gasped and collapsed on the floor, putting himself in a fetal position and closing his eyes.

 

**[END OF ABUSE SCENE]**

  
  


In the distance he felt movement, a very loud noise and a scream of pain. Followed, something fell to the ground near him, making him shudder and driving more pain throughout his body. Someone approached him and they put his body in his lap, but he didn’t dare to open his eyes. In a somewhat friendlier position compared to his body lying on the floor, he felt his head resting on one arm and a hand gently caressing his cheek. The fingers moved tremulously as they ran the strands of hair from his forehead and rocked him, causing him some pain, but he couldn’t move or make a sound, he had no strength. He was afraid of such weakness, but he couldn’t do anything. He could feel his shirt impregnated with a hot liquid.

 

"Daryl? Daryl wake up" said a female voice. "Please, honey, wake up." That voice, it was familiar. A voice that in her pleads let glimpse how it trembled, whispering words to calm him down. When he felt a drop fall on his face, he let out a moan of pain, perhaps simply to indicate that he was alive.

 

"Daryl?" The boy opened his eyes and saw Annette, her eyes red, full of pain and tears. "Hi baby"

 

"M-mom?" Daryl whispered, and she began to sob. She noticed the effort that his son made to breathe.

 

"Don’t worry, honey, help is on the way. It’s okay" Daryl looked over Annette's shoulder and saw Hershel, who was kneeling beside her.

 

"Everything will be fine, son. You will be fine"

  
  


Daryl closed his eyes again and didn’t open them again.

  
  
  
  


****************

 

He woke up slowly.

 

The whistle of a machine told him where he was. First he noticed the noises around him, then the smell of disinfectant and flowers ... jasmine, maybe? He was lying down and noticed something was squeezing his legs, and when he opened his hands wide he could feel a soft cloth. He was in a hospital. He opened his eyes and closed them quickly when he saw so much white light of the room blinded him. He let out a small moan and something moved beside him, someone rose from a chair and pulled it close to him.

 

This time, he opened his eyes slowly and saw Hershel, sitting beside him stroking his head with his hand. "Hi son. Relax, it’s fine. You're fine," he said, releasing the breath that apparently was holding back and smiling happy to see him awake. Daryl stared into his eyes and then closed them again. The boy exhaled slowly and suddenly remembered everything.

 

The shadow among the trees, the rain, the walk with Bethy to the barn, the briefcase, his backpack on the floor, Gareth. Fear, sweat, moans, pain, a lot of pain. He began to tremble and tears began to fall down his cheeks.

 

"No, no, easy. You are safe. We are all safe" he said, trying to calm him down. "Daryl, look at me." The boy opened his eyes and fixed his gaze on the man in front of him. His  _ father _ . "Bethy is fine. The girls are fine" Hershel assured him. The man approached his face and kissed his forehead. He sat back in the chair and took the boy's hand.

 

"’m sorry," Daryl said and lowered his gaze to the sheet that covered his legs. "I couldn’ ... I couldn’ stop it and ..."

 

"Son, look at me. I'm proud of you, of how you protected your sister. I am proud of the man that you have become and I am more than happy that you are here and alive"

 

"I ain’t fine," he said with a sob. "I ain’t"

 

"Daryl, what are you talking about?" Hershel asked, worry filling his gaze.

 

"I..." felt a wave of anxiety hit him in the chest.

 

"Daryl, breathe son" and both inhaled and exhaled together. "That's it. Now tell me, what are you talking about? "

 

"The first time ... I enjoyed it. It felt weird, but I liked it. And now I don’ ... I didn’ want to, I..." he began to cry harder.

 

"Shh, shh, it’s okay. Daryl, you're not wrong. Listen to me, son, it's not your fault. Daryl, that was just your body reacting to a stimulus. I would never believe that you would enjoy it" Daryl tried to choke his tears a bit, but the only thing he did was to feel pain in his chest and throat. "I love you, son, and I will help you thru all this, I promise."

 

**********************

 

A few hours later he woke again when a soft knock sounded at the door. He opened his eyes and saw Annette sitting next to him, who held his hand tightly as he gave her the biggest smile he could. Then he looked at the nurse coming through the door, a beautiful woman with short hair and big green eyes. She approached the bed and first smiled at Annette and then at him.

 

"Hi, Daryl. My name is Carol and I am the nurse whose going to take care of you for a few days. Okay?" Daryl nodded slightly. "Great, now, can you tell me how you feel? Nausea?" Daryl shook his head. "Dizziness? From one to ten, in what number are you in pain?" she asked as Daryl answered by shaking his head while she was taking notes on a plaque.

 

"'Bout seven" he said, shyly.

 

"That's a bit much. Right, I will give you something for keep it down. Don’t worry," she reassured him when she saw his face "it's only for your body to rest a little, it's not going to make you fall asleep" Daryl looked back at Annette.

 

"I won’t leave this spot, if that's what you think" she said smiling at him. Daryl just nodded and looked at Carol, while her hands held a syringe and injected something into the cannula that connected with his hand.

 

"This will make you relax, without falling asleep, as I told you. I'm sorry for what happened to you honey, but I have to check how your wounds are. May I? I promise I’ll be quick." And after Daryl's affirmative answer, Carol let him know every move she was going to make before doing it. She helped him sit on the bed and started working. She checked his back and seeing the wound on his waist, told him what condition he was in. Apparently that throbbing pain he felt that night had been a stab. "Nothing to worry about, it didn’t touch any organ, so you'll be fine," she explained. Then she felt his ribs and Daryl hissed in pain. "Sorry, sorry. It’s done. You have three broken ribs, that will take a little longer to heal." She checked his head, he had a contusion which would no longer cause him any damage or decompensation, although his head would hurt for a couple of days. Then with her stethoscope she heard his breathing. The coldness of the object on his back made him shiver a little and Carol hurried.

 

Carol didn’t mention anything about the scars on his back, nor a grimace reflected on her face and Daryl silently thanked her. "You have been very brave Daryl. And I need you to be a little more, okay?" Daryl stared at her and understood what she wanted. He shook his head slightly and closed his eyes, resting his head on Annette's shoulder.

 

"I know, kid, but I have to. It will only be a few minutes and I won’t bother you for a couple of hours. Your mother can stay, if that makes you feel better. "

 

Annette stroked her head, grateful that the boy was not shaking from the touch. "C'mon darling. It's okay" she said and helped him to his side, leaning on his left side. Daryl exhaled shakily and his body tensed. "Daryl, look at me" when the boy did it, his mother stroked his head. "The girls are dying to see you. Do you want me to bring them later?" He knew what she was doing, wanted to distract him from any discomfort or movement that might startle him.

 

"Please" he said nodding and felt something cold in his lower part. He let out an uncomfortable moan.

 

"You know what I think? After all this we could go on vacation. To the beach maybe. Do you know the beach?" Daryl shook his head and buried his face in the pillow when Carol pressed his body with something and it was painful. "We can rent a house in front of the sea and spend some time, the five of us" she said smiling.

 

"Okay," he said, holding his breath as he felt Carol's hands touching his inner thighs.

 

"Done. You did great, Daryl. I'll leave you alone now" said Carol, cleaning and retreating from the room with the same smile she entered. Annette looked at the door, and when Daryl turned to see what he was looking at, he spotted Hershel talking to Rick.

 

"Mom?" He called and the woman was shining with happiness. She nodded her head to continue. "What ... what happened to ...?"

 

"He's on his way to prison, honey. You don’t have to worry about that anymore, okay?" Daryl nodded and leaned back comfortably on the bed.

  
  
  
  


************

 

A few days later, he had permission to go home again. He was completely out of danger, but he had to be very careful in the next few weeks not to pull out any stitches or do something physically demanding. 

 

Carol talked to him in private a few minutes before she left, telling him how to take care of himself in his lower parts in case he didn’t want anyone else to do it. She warned him if he felt any discomfort or bled a little, he should come to see her immediately. “Let me know if anything happens, Pookie” she said and kissed him on the head and then gave the married couple the number of a psychologist to treat Daryl. The boy had gone through enough abuse all his life, and that now added self-injury. He needed a damn break.

 

Maggie pushed the wheelchair her brother was sitting on and Bethy took him by the hand, telling him about a movie about cats and dogs she had recently seen. They climbed into the truck and drove to the house.

 

Upon entering, all his friends were there, smiling slightly shy.

 

"Tough asshole" Abraham said smiling at him and giving him a hug. He noticed how Daryl flinched a little and he quietly apologized.

 

"Language!" Annette warned them, smiling.

 

"Sorry, Miss Greene" they all said, at the same time.

 

"Come on, we need to tell you all the gossip from school" Aaron sat beside him and they all spend a nice afternoon.

 


	11. Epilogue: Starting all over again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Therapy works with love, support and understanding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end, dear friends. I hope you liked the story, more parts are coming (as soon as I have some time, college and work demand me a lot now) with more people and relationships ;)  
> Thank you very much for having read it and I hope you tell me what you think. Any error or timeline mistake you think I need to fix, let me know.  
> I love you, take care :)

You could say that after leaving the hospital, Daryl really began to live, calmly and happily. And although not every day was good, little by little, after each session with his psychologist, he was getting what he needed to be able to get forward in life. Once a week he would go to therapy, to talk about everything that happened and to apprehend the world again.

 

On a good day, Daryl would return to the farm with a big smile, talking about crazy ideas, wanting to go hunting or even teaching his sisters how to do it. Sometimes he talked about going to college, or traveling and getting to know different places. Others, he would go find his friends and go for a walk and take pictures, or eat ice cream, or go to the movies. On bad days, as it had been today, he simply arrived at the farm and threw himself on the couch.

 

His therapist, Morgan Jones, had thought to talk a little more about the history of his family, the Dixons. And despite everything Daryl did to change the subject, the man wasn’t stupid, quite the opposite: he would always find a way to talk about them. Apparently, many of the problems of self-esteem, confidence, his people-skills, especially physical contact, had been product of the emotional and physical abuse that his father had done. And while he had improved a lot with the Greene, there were still several sequels that had increased after Gareth.

 

Shortly after Daryl was born, Will got fired from his job, the only one he had, and got depressed and angry about the situation so he had begun to drink just like his own father had. He had become just as violent too and took it all out with his mother, which would have led her to smoke and drink too much. His mother had not been the best, but she wasn’t a bad person either. Daryl had a few images in his head of his mother smiling, cooking or even singing, but everything was more blurred than anything now.

 

Honestly, nothing had been easy for the brothers. Especially for Merle who, being older and bigger, tried to protect her mother first and then Daryl, enduring most of the abuse. After the death of his mother, his brother, already a teenager, faced his father and the fights were more intense between them, leaving Daryl scared in his room, hiding in the closet. Until Merle discovered the drugs; from there on, he was in and out of juvie every five or six months.

 

Without his mother and with Merle absent to protect him, Daryl spent a lot of time alone with his father in which he invented different ways to make Daryl feel like trash, to say the least. If he was lucky, his father would pass out from drinking so much and leave Daryl alone for a few hours. But it didn’t happen as often as the boy would have wanted.

 

Remembering all this, Daryl arrived at the farm completely exhausted. He had decided to walk from Jones' house to the farm and the road was longer than he thought. He threw himself into the couch, face down and hid his head under a blanket that was always there for the cold nights. He felt footsteps and then something that settled on the floor next to him.

 

"Pancakes and movie?" Asked a voice. Yes, he knew it perfectly. You see, when Daryl came back from therapy, Maggie would notice right away if it was a good day or a bad one. If it was good, they would draw together, or simply be company when doing their homework. Sometimes Bethy would join them and sit next to them with a book or do what she loved most, play the piano. On the other hand, if her sister noticed that it was a bad day, she would ask that question, so they would eat the first thing he had tasted in that house and remember that he was safe now, and watch a movie and not have to talk about nothing at all.

 

"And maybe later you could teach me how to use your hunting knife" said Bethy who had entered the room and the boy started to laugh.

 

"Do you really think your dad will let a twelve year-old girl use that knife?" he said smiling, rising from his horizontal position and removing the blanket from his head to see both of them sitting in front of him, a big smile on their faces.

 

"Well, at least I tried," the younger girl said, shrugging. "What do you choose?"

 

"Movie," the boy said almost whispering.

 

"That bad?" Maggie asked and the boy nodded. "Fine, okay. Bruce Willis or Tom Hardy? "

 

"Die Hard 4?"

 

"Hey, do not watch that movie without me" exclaimed Hershel coming from the kitchen.

 

"You can stay if you want, Daddy" Bethy said as she got up and went to the TV to put the movie and Maggie whispered to Daryl that she would go and make the pancakes.

 

Hershel looked at Daryl and the boy nodded once, slightly. "All right. Oh, but first ... Son, this came for you" he said, handing him a small envelope. Daryl took it in his hands a little distrustful, opened it and when he saw what was inside he jumped up from the chair, happy. "My driver's license, cool" and Hershel couldn’t be happier to see that smile on his face. "How did you get it so fast?"

 

"Well, having a police friend like Rick Grimes can make things quicken up a bit. Remember to thank him later. Come on, put the movie, I still have a couple of hours before making dinner "

 

"We have pizza again, don’t we?" Daryl asked, looking at him mockingly. "I don’t see you complain about it" Hershel said and they both laughed.

  
  
  


***************

 

On Friday, Hershel went to picked up Daryl from the school. He was with his friends, talking and laughing loudly; It was one of those moments when he knew that his son felt animated, enjoyed his tranquility and returned to be, well, a teenager. The boys, seeing Hershel, lifted Daryl into the air and took him to the car.

 

"Hey, put me down," he said, snorting a small laugh.

 

"Mr. Greene, your son is an irremediable nerd," D-psy greeted him. "Oh yeah? I should hide the books. How was the day, guys?" he asked everyone.

 

"The same as always Mr. Greene, homework, grupo work, a horrible lunch ... oh, and the A + Daryl got in Physics" said Aaron. Daryl hit him on arm and slightly flushed. "It ain’t a big deal" he said under his breath.

 

"Of course it is, stop hiding your intelligence" exclaimed Sasha. "If you keep up like that you'll have to teach Mathematics to Muscles, he doesn’t understand anything"

 

"Hey, it's not my fault that the calculus are resolved in a particular way other than mine" he said offended, but nevertheless approached and gave her a kiss.

 

"Please, not in front of me," said T-Dog in disgust. "Hey, I have to leave before my mother goes crazy for not helping her with dinner. Goodbye, jerks" he greeted them and Hershel noticed how Daryl looked at his friends; he was happy for them, for who they were, for having known them, for knowing that they would always take care of him. Hershel wanted to see that smile on his face always.

 

"Well guys, I'm sorry to take you away from your nerdy friend, but I have take Daryl to a place"

 

"Where are we going?" Daryl asked.

 

"You’ll see. I see you tomorrow at the farm, guys. "

 

"Goodbye, Mr. Greene"

 

Daryl approached the door of the passenger seat of the truck when Hershel stopped him. "Come, you will be the pilot this time" he said and the smiling boy walked around the car to sit in the driver's seat. "You already know what to do. I’ll tell you where to"

 

"Alright"

  
  
  


The place where they were going was near his school so a few minutes later, Daryl was parking the car. They were in front of a small but very beautiful house. Brick, tile roof and a white porch. The garage door that was next to the house was open and there were a couple of cars parked there. By inspecting the place a little, Daryl knew what it was. It was a mechanical workshop. The poster read  _ 'Dale's Shop’ _ with very large cursive, a phone number and a drawing of a motor, something simple.

 

To tell the truth, Daryl trusted Hershel a lot, it was his father after all, but at that moment a small terror began to invade him; he felt his heart beating fast and the air was getting thick. His hands started to numb a little and a small sudden dizziness caused him to squeeze his hands on the steering wheel tightly.

 

"I already know what you're thinking. That you do not want to be here, that you don’t like mechanics anymore and that you don’t want to know anything about it. But I know it's not true and I don’t want you to wake up one day and find out that you let go of a dream for a damn asshole that fucked you up" Daryl lowered his head against the steering wheel and closed his eyes, inhaling and exhaling as he listened to Hershel speak with a soft voice. He began to count to ten, as Morgan had taught him, but he was having a hard time concentrating. "Look at me, Daryl" and slowly the boy fixed his gaze on the face of his adoptive father. "I can’t let you waste this opportunity out of fear"

 

"I can’t..." he said, his voice so small that if Hershel was not sitting next to him he wouldn’t have heard him. He shook his head, looking down again.

 

“You can, because I'm here. We are all here now, to help you with anything that comes up. Hey, do you trust me?" Daryl stared at him once more and a few seconds later he nodded. "Come on, I want to introduce you to someone." They both got out of the truck and slowly approached the entrance to the workshop. Hershel was walking alongside him, at Daryl pace; each step was almost perfectly synchronized with his. It was a silent 'I follow you', when in reality it was his father who guided him, who showed him how to do it, who told him 'everything will be fine’.

 

As he walked, Daryl felt his legs tremble, his heart more rapid and his breathing more choppy than before. When he reached the door the boy suddenly stopped and Hershel stopped too. He put his hand on the bottom of Daryl's head and nodded, smiling at him. It was the last impulse to enter the workshop.

 

"Dale? Are you presentable?" Hershel called whoever was there. "Yeah, just a second” he shouted from the back. A man appeared, a little tall, with white hair. He was wearing a dirty and oiled overall. The man was wiping his hands with a cloth and when he saw them, he smiled at them and went straight to hug Hershel tightly, hitting his back. His father let out a small moan and laughed. "What a damn pleasure to see you again, my friend," he said.

 

"And who do we have here?" Dale asked as he saw Daryl standing there, a few inches away from them.

 

"Dale, I want you to meet Daryl, my son. Daryl, this is Dale Horvath, a long-time friend. "

 

"A pleasure, kid," he said holding out his hand, which Daryl shook shyly. "Hershel told me a lot about you," Dale told him, laughing. "Hey, you look alike. Are you really adopted?" Dale asked, looking at the younger and then at the other.

 

Daryl smiled slightly. It seemed that Dale was not so bad, he definitely hadn’t felt the same as with Gareth, and that was a good start.

 

"Surely he has my character" said Hershel smiling. "Hey, can we see what I asked you?" Dale smiled at him. And it was weird. It was... sad, that carried a story, a pain. It was that kind of smiles that yearned for something, a little complicit, somewhat intimate.

 

"Of course, follow me." The man started walking to the back of the workshop, followed by Daryl and Hershel.

 

Once they crossed the workshop, they left through a door that led to the back of the house. The workshop ended, but a wooden roof covered a bit more of the ground, protecting something big. Something that had been noticed for some time was there. A brown fabric very dirty by the weather hid a motorcycle. Dale took out the cloth and that's when Daryl saw it.

 

Of black color, the motorcycle was of handlebar high and with a light beacon in the center. The gear that was in sight was silver and although it looked a little rusty you could tell it was still strong. The seat was lined with black leather, with one sit slightly higher than the other. The lining was broken, but nothing difficult difficult to fix. On the sides, two bags hung, very common in that type of motorcycles. It was a beautiful chopera, and from what he had learned from his brother, it was a model of great quality and speed.

The engine was opaque black, with two Z or spokes in the center of a circle. He had seen that sticker somewhere. That's it! He had seen it in his room, it was stuck on the inside of his closet.

"Like what you see?" Dale asked.

 

"It's great," Daryl told him. "How long it’s been here?" He said, asking permission to approach in silence, simply pointing with his finger. And Dale nodded. Daryl could feel Dale's gaze on the back of his neck, and the smile on his face as he spoke.

 

"A long time, in fact. I hope it still works, but you'll take care of that." Hearing this, Daryl turned and looked at him, then at Hershel and back at Dale. "What?"

 

"You see, Daryl, this motorcycle was from Hershel's younger brother, Michael," he said and looked at the man next to him.

 

"My brother Michael loved that motorcycle, he worked hard to get it and he even designed that sticker himself." Apparently the room that Hershel reserved so much, as if it were immaculate, belonged to his brother. That's why Maggie had said that to him that morning. "But after an argument with my father, he forbade him to use it. He told him ... that he wasn’t man enough to use it. So we hid it here and told him that Michael had sold it. By the time my father died, Michael was already sick and couldn’t ride it again. "

 

"What happened to him?" Daryl asked, touching the gear carefully.

 

"AIDS". Hearing that word made the boy take his hand from where he was, as if it were burning. And it wasn’t because the previous owner had had that disease, but because he knew what Hershel was implying.

That had been a topic of conversation in one of the sessions with Morgan: Daryl's sexuality and what it had involved in his life: hiding from his family, fearing that a whole town would kill him simply for being gay. Dammit, that his own father almost killed him with blows, that he threatened to shoot him for being and forced him to leave. Not counting the reaction of his own brother, if he ever found out. But none of that had happened with the Greene’s.

 

And now he knew why.

 

"You know Daryl, I loved my brother, no matter what he did with his life. He was an excellent person. And that my father could never see it." Hershel's voice trembled with emotion as he remembered his brother and when he turned around, Daryl could see how his eyes were wet. "Being unable to go home, made him very depressed. After getting sick, he stayed at my house for a while, Maggie was a little baby just two years old. He always helped with her, loved her very much and even attended to Annette in the first months of Bethy's pregnancy." Hershel approached Daryl slowly, while looking at the motorcycle. "You remind me a lot of him, Daryl, that's why I want you to have it. And to take you wherever you want, without the shame of being who you are. "

 

Daryl turned and hugged him with all his might. He had no way of expressing how much he thanked him for everything that man had given him.

 

"Thank you. So what's next? "He said releasing.

 

"Now, kid, you and I will put together an action plan to see what we can do with this beauty. Although, as Michael said, he only needs love and a little oil. Consider it as part of your therapy, and if you're as good at this as your father says," he said, pointing to Hershel with his chin and placing his hands on his hip," well, I could use an assistant. "

 

"Really?" Said Daryl, smiling like a happy child at Christmas for the gift he loved so much. "If you can make it work, it's yours," Dale agreed.

 

"Excellent". and at that moment Hershel put his hand on his shoulder and looked at him seriously. "Just promise me one thing, son. Whatever happens or worries you, just talk to me. Okay?”

 

"I promise." Daryl nodded. He walked away a little from the two men and went to tour the workshop while they talked. Behind a desk was a picture with a photograph. In it you could see three people standing in front of a house. It was Mr. Horvath's house, he stood in the middle, clearly happy for the inauguration of his workshop. On his right side was Hershel, clearly younger and on the other side of Dale, there was another man, much like his father. It must be Michael. And without knowing why, Daryl took out his driver's license and fixed his eyes on the name printed there, passing his thumb on it.

  
  


_ Daryl Dixon Greene _

  
  


And he knew that he was at home.

  
  
  
  
  
  


FIN


End file.
